Fresh community plan to take over Greig Hall

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MOVES are in the pipeline to revive a business case to transfer Alcester's Greig Hall back to the community.

The plan was revealed following the news the hall had been successfully registered as a Community Asset which means campaigners are guaranteed a chance to bid for the property when it is put up for sale.

They will have six months to gather the funding and prepare a business case. After six months the trustees will be free to sell the building - closed in September 2011 - to whoever they want.

Alcester Town councillors asked for the hall to be registered by Stratford District Council as part of the Government's Right to Bid scheme.

Councillors are now preparing a revised business plan to buy the hall when it eventually goes on sale and residents will be asked for their views.

Mayor of Alcester Lennox Cumberbatch said it was the council's intention to take the plan to the community and show them what will be proposed to the trustees.

The Greig Hall Action Committee had drawn up a business case in 2011 but it was rejected by the trustees as at the time they wanted to demolish the 1950s building, sell off the land for housing and use the money to fund the enlargement and modernisation of the existing sports hall.

Coun Mike Gittus said he believed the original proposal submitted by the action committee was acceptable and would be used as the basis for the revised business case.

"There's no individual party here as we have had many people who have informed us they would like to help fund the opportunity. It's about the community taking ownership," he said.

"The public has told us what they want and we have involved them every step of the way and listened to them.

"They expect us to continue the fight for the hall until it is saved and we will do so. It's for the generations to come and the future of this town."

Ross Greig, chairman of the board of trustees, said he could not comment on the building's future but trustees were currently working on a plan and would be releasing information when it was practical to do so.

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