Wednesbury Town Hall in line for £500,000 spruce-up
An historic Black Country town hall is in line for a £500,000 investment, under new plans to spruce it up and open it up for more use.
Sandwell Council intends to spend £300,000 relocating staff from its housing department into Wednesbury Town Hall.
It will also fork out a further £200,000 on improving facilities for community groups.
Work will start within weeks and is due to be completed in the new year.
Councillor Mahboob Hussain, deputy leader at Sandwell Council and cabinet member for town and neighbourhood services, said: "We have seen a lot of activities with the community using the town hall and we will be doing quite a lot of repair work to the building.
"It has already been agreed to spend £300,000 for the housing department to move and a further £200,000 where we will be encouraging local community groups to use that."
Councillor Hussain said a meeting had been held with local councillors Elaine Costigan, Olwen Jones and Pam Hughes where they had called for investment to be made into the Holyhead Road-based hall and the work was in response to the demand.
Councillor Hussain added: "I have recently had a review of the town halls in Wednesbury and West Bromwich as to what usage they can have.
"In Wednesbury it is well-used as a community place so we will encourage more community use, whereas in West Bromwich it is a completely different story and it is more events.
"Because the town hall hasn't been used for many years and never received any investment it will be offices, decorating, moving computer equipment and replacing the kitchen."
Around 20 housing staff based in portable buildings in Wednesbury town centre will be moved into their new home early next year.
In May Councillor Hussain said West Bromwich town hall in High Street had been earmarked as a comedy and entertainment venue.
The potential to use the Grade II listed building as office space for council staff was also being looked at by the council.
Council bosses said earlier this year they hoped to turn the West Bromwich building into a venue to rival Wolverhampton's Civic Hall and invest cash into installing music and lighting systems.
The Grade II-listed West Bromwich Town Hall dates back to 1874.
