TAMESIDE Council insists it is not just selling off Denton’s Festival Hall to the highest bidder to do what they want with it.
In fact, it will still keep the ground floor of the landmark building for community use.
Seeing the Peel Street site on the market has sparked concerns it will be flogged off for housing.
And while that is described as an option, the authority will insist only part of it can be converted and a plan on how it can benefit the town’s people will be required.
Meetings are already believed to have taken place between interested parties and councillors about how it could be used.
When asked by The Correspondent, a Tameside Council spokesperson said: “The council is currently advertising Denton Festival Hall and inviting expressions of interest from parties to bring forward sustainable and beneficial proposals for the site.
“All submissions received will be carefully reviewed and considered.
“The council’s intention is to retain part of the building for ongoing community use, and interested parties will therefore be expected to demonstrate within their proposals how this important community provision can be accommodated and supported as part of any future plans for the property.”
The brochure for the Festival Hall described it as offering a ‘redevelopment opportunity with potential for:
“Residential conversion or redevelopment (apartments/townhouses), mixed-use schemes incorporating residential, commercial or community space or leisure, health or community-focused uses.
“Formerly used as a community venue, library and NHS offices, the property is now vacant, providing a clear opportunity for refurbishment, conversion or redevelopment.
“The scale, layout, central location and heritage character make it well suited to residential-led or mixed-use schemes.”
Crucially, it adds: “The vendor will retain an interest in the ground floor of the hall to provide community uses for Denton town centre.
“Interested parties must accommodate this within their proposals.
“In November 2023, Tameside MBC’ s Destination Denton project was awarded £16.5m million from round three of the UK Government’ s Levelling Up Fund.
“Destination Denton focusses primarily on improvements to the public realm in Denton town centre, supported by investments in Denton Town Hall and Denton Festival Hall.
“Tameside MBC is progressing early-stage interventions in Denton Festival Hall to support the future redevelopment of the building.
“It is anticipated that these enabling works will include but are not limited to internal strip out of existing finishes, services and fittings, structural alterations as required to facilitate future residential use, improvements to the retained community accommodation, and making the building safe and weather tight.”
Documents also describe how the building will not just be sold off to whoever offers most money if their scheme does not benefit the council’s aims.
They continue: “The vendor will determine which, if any, offers are taken further.
“The vendor reserves the right not to accept the highest or any offer received.
“It will require any successful offeror to provide evidence of financial positions for both the purchase and restoration/conversion/repurposing of the building along with likely acceptability of the proposal by the planning authority.”