Stafford's Shire Hall: Decision due on fate of arts services at landmark building next month

Staffordshire County Council announced that it was pulling its arts services out of the Grade-II listed building in September, but made a U-turn last month when it came under fire by the Labour group.

Fears had been raised by campaigners that the iconic former courthouse would be forced to close if the council followed Wolverhampton University out the door.

Gill Heath, Cabinet member for communities, said the local authority was going to revisit its plans to alleviate concerns and come back with amended proposals.

Now council papers have revealed that the amended proposals will be revealed and the final decision made in December.

Councillor Heath added: "We agreed to return to the scrutiny committee with more information about the proposed remodelling of the arts service so members could see the detail of how we're going to focus on providing our arts activity more widely across the county, targeting more people with 'pop-up' exhibitions and events in new and existing venues within communities.

"It's going to be different from a Stafford-based service and I think it has great potential."

The county council agreed in 2014 to redefine the arts service and vacate the Shire Hall Gallery, subject to Cabinet agreement.

The council decided in September to pull its arts services, including the art gallery and craft shop, out of Shire Hall as part of plans to save more than £100,000 from the local authority's arts services.

The plans were called in for scrutiny by the county council's Labour group, headed by Councillor Sue Woodward. They raised concerns the decision had been made 'prematurely' and with no proper costings. They said that in the council's plans the potential for redundancies and any costs arising from the move was not made clear.

Concerns were also raised over the relocation of the multi-sensory room at Shire Hall.

Hearing the news about the December date, Councillor Woodward said: "I am glad that the cabinet member was willing to look again at the proposal and I hope she comes up with some more robust plans for the future."

The original 'call-in' had been made by Councillor Sheree Peaple, who said: "The decision seems to be prematurely made and should be postponed until the concerns have been properly addressed. There are no firm plans for where the multi-sensory room, which is clearly of great benefit to a number of Staffordshire residents, is to be relocated."