DACORUM CONSERVATIVES VOTE TO DEMOLISH BERKHAMSTED'S GABLE HALL

6.37.56pm BST (GMT +0100) Sun 21st Jun 2009

Cllr Garrick Steven at the Gable Hall in Berkhamsted

Last December, Conservative run Dacorum Borough Council decided to close and demolish Berkhamsted's well-used Gable Hall next to Victoria School in Prince Edward Street. Why? Because, they claimed, it could cost "over £70,000 to bring it up to modern standards".

But the Dacorum Borough Council Liberal Democrat Group blocked demolition by demanding a review of this decision and a delay so that options for the future of the Hall could be properly assessed.

Borough Cllr Christopher Townsend said, "It takes time for solutions to emerge, just as it has done for the Temperance Hall in Tring."

Berkhamsted Liberal Democrat Town Councillors John Lythgoe, Phil Gibbs and Garrick Stevens asked for more time to consider other solutions to the upgrade problem and ways restore the Hall to community use. Cllr Garrick Stevens said, "A long-term licence is needed to justify the investment to upgrade the Hall. The three-year licence, as proposed by the Conservatives, is a nonsense."

But at the meeting of the DBC Scrutiny Committee on 16th June, Conservative Councillors dismissed Liberal Democrat pleas as being "politically motivated". Berkhamsted Town Councillor, Garrick Stevens replied, "What arrogance! Our motivation is our desire to show community leadership and work to improve the quality of services and facilities for local people - not something the Conservatives appear to understand!" However, the Conservatives majority on the Committee, including those from Berkhamsted, voted as a block to force through the original decision to close and demolish the Gable Hall.

On learning of the outcome, Councillor Denise Rance, Leader of the Borough Liberal Democrat Group, said "The Conservatives have completely missed the point. My colleagues wanted to retain a valued community asset for the benefit of the community. The Conservative ploy of a short-term licence smacks of insincerity and tells us that demolition was planned all along."