Arts venue put up for sale but repair bill could be £1m

Stanley Civic Hall has no heating and needs roof repairs

An arts venue has been put up for sale but new owners could be left with a £1m repair bill.

Durham County Council formally regained control of Stanley Civic Hall last month after the town council leasing it admitted it could not keep up with maintenance costs.

The building, formerly known as the Lamplight Arts Centre, has been left with no heating and is in need of work to its roof.

Durham County Council confirmed it had listed the building for sale as there were "no future requirements for it".

Following building surveys, Conservative councillor James Rowlandson warned the damage could be worse than first thought.

He said: “Because it has been left with no heating, no repairs to the roof and windows in the worst winter there has been for a number of years, the repair bill could reach £1m to bring it back into proper use.”

'Inept and incompetent'

Durham County Council's joint administration - made up of Conservative, Liberal Democrat and Independent members - has blamed Labour-led Stanley Town Council for the property's condition.

Its members were labelled “inept and incompetent” by Mr Rowlandson in January and told they had let the residents of Stanley down, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

However, the county council's Labour leader Carl Marshall has accused the authority of "prioritising other projects over repairing existing cultural assets".

He said: “Having just managed to push through a budget designed to plough money into Durham City, here we have yet another example of the coalition ignoring the needs of the county’s forgotten towns and villages.

“Stanley Town Council finally handed day-to-day management of the building back to the county council after years of pleading for support with spiralling maintenance costs of the building and within weeks of returning the building the coalition has put the building up for sale with a short window of opportunity for potential buyers to express interest. 

"Once again, people in Stanley must go without while watching millions being ploughed into Durham city centre, as its own cultural venue is flogged to the highest bidder."

Responding to that claim, Mr Rowlandson said: "Durham County Council is having to sell Stanley Civic Hall precisely because of the neglect that it has been subjected to since the town council signed a lease for the building 13 years ago, along with full responsibility for its upkeep and any repairs.

“All recent investments in the city of Durham were inherited by the joint administration, along with the challenges that came with them.”