CONCERNS that Staybridge’s library and art gallery will be moved into the town’s Civic Hall permanently have been eased.
Any shift will be temporary while the current Astley Cheetham building is enhanced.
A line in an announcement by Tameside Council after it secured almost £20 million from the Government’s Levelling Up Fund sparked talk the facilities would merge.
It stated: “The plans include repair work to the Civic Hall to support its reuse and enhancement including housing the Astley Cheetham Art Gallery and library.”
However, when asked by The Correspondent, Tameside Council clarified the position.
The art gallery and library are not on the move, permanently anyway. If they do, it will be for the period the work on the Trinity Street structure.
Of the £19.9 million awarded, Tameside’s bid included works to the Civic Hall – particularly its roof – which would cost £1.5 million and £1.3 million of work at the library and art gallery to enhance the provision and accessibility.
Much talk, however, has surrounded the line in the original statement that intimated at the move under the one roof.
But a newly-worded quotation says: “The plans include repair work to the Civic Hall to support its reuse and enhancements to the Astley Cheetham Art Gallery and library.”
So they move valuable books and paintings into a building with a dodgy roof? Strong smell of rat about all this…