GOMERSAL TORY ANGRY COUNCIL RENOVATION OF GOMERSAL PUBLIC HALL

Kirklees Conservative Cllr. Derrick Yates has expressed his anger at the long drawn out refurbishment of Gomersal Public Hall. The Hall, which is the only public facility in Gomersal, is finally due to open at the weekend, but it will only have been partly refurbished, and has gone way over budget. When questioning the Liberal Democrat Cabinet Member for Regeneration, Cllr John Smithson, at the last Council Meeting, no firm commitment was given as to when the Hall will be completed or how much it is going to cost.

Cllr Yates said:

“The refurbishment of Gomersal Public Hall has been a farce from start to finish, and it has been badly handled by the Council. It is clear to me that Cllr Smithson and his Liberal Democrat colleagues couldn’t care less about the hall or the people of Gomersal.

“The original quote for the works in 2002 was £275,000 for the whole building and work was supposed to start in 2003. It didn’t actually start until July 2004, with November given as the completion date. It is actually supposed to finally be opening this weekend, but they’ve only refurbished the ground floor. The revised cost of £300,000 is way over budget because the original quote was for the whole building.

“I asked a number of questions of Cllr Smithson at the last Council Meeting – When was it opening? Why the price jump? Why has only the ground floor been done? When will the rest of the work be done? And how much extra will it all cost? His replies were unsatisfactory, infact they were mumbo jumbo. The only real fact I got out of him was the fact that the refurbishment will not be completed in the next year, or in other words it has been put on hold.

“The people of Gomersal and the various Groups that use the building have been messed about, and they are missing out. Somebody at the Council needs to take responsibility for the failed building programme and the wildly inaccurate costing. The whole project has been a joke – but it isn’t funny, it is a huge disappointment.”

Contact: Cllr Derrick Yates 01274 876978 07799 762488