Despite years of discussions over grand plans to extend and reconfigure the building so it can become a one-stop shop for members of the public, Northumberland County Council documents suggest the budget now stands at just £430,000.
Minutes from the January meeting of the council’s capital works programme working group, which reviews decisions made by the council’s cabinet, reveal: “It was also noted that the allocation of £1.3m for Queen’s Hall, Hexham was likely to be revised to £430,000 when proposals for a revised scheme were agreed.”
The news has sparked concern among local Conservative councillors who say they have been carefully monitoring the Labour administration’s pledges in relation to its market towns initiative.
“For years now we’ve been fed this line from the administration that they are committed to ‘bringing the council back to Hexham’,” said county councillor for Hexham East, Coun. Cath Homer.
“And then we hear that there is likely to be a complete downgrading of what people have been promised.”
The Queen’s Hall Arts board of trustees, which has an 80-year lease for the 19th century building, has been in negotiations with the county council for several years over its future.
It has always maintained that its focus is to promote the venue, which is already home to Hexham library and became home to the scaled down tourist information service last year, as an arts resource.
Under the council’s plans, customer services staff from Hadrian House would also be relocated to the building.
However, public protection staff from Hadrian House are now preparing to move to office space within Hexham’s recently completed new fire station next month.
Around six permanent staff and a further eight to 10 who currently hot desk at Hadrian House will now be based at the new fire station, on the Hexham Hospital site, with the council maintaining that the service will remain the same for the public.
It is understood the remaining staff will be housed in the Queen’s Hall where the scaled down plans include adding around 20 desks to the mezzanine level.
A county council spokesman said: “We are revisiting the scope of the project but a revised scheme hasn’t yet been approved either by council members or the trustees of Queen’s Hall.”
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