Old Town Hall funding breakdown published
Oldham Council has set out details of the sources that are paying for the Old Town Hall regeneration development in a business case paper due to go to the cabinet on Monday.
The total project cost is £36.72m which will be funded from a range of sources:
- £26.3m Oldham Council direct contribution. Of which £16.29m from the capital programme funding, £10m contribution from reserves
- £1m Manchester Airport dividend
- £6.9m debt, to be repaid through income from the project
- £2.5m Greater Manchester Combined Authority
Without this project Oldham Council says it faces costs of £16.16m over the next 25 years to maintain the listed building.
Cllr Jim McMahon, Oldham Council leader, said: "When Oldham was at its industrial peak the Old Town Hall was a statement of civic pride but in recent years it became a symbol of decline and a very serious financial liability….I welcome this report in explaining the costs and reasoning behind our decision to invest in this scheme because it's important that we're fully transparent about this with the public."
Morgan Sindall is already on site transforming the historic building into an 800-seat, seven-screen Odeon cinema. The project is designed by BDP.
Contractors have been on-site at the venue since October 2013 delivering a development which will also include six new restaurant units and a glass extension with views across Parliament Square.
The council officer's report said the project will lead to the creation of 74 full-time and 159 part-time jobs, generating an extra £5.5m for the local economy each year, and attracting an estimated 214,000 extra visits to the town centre annually, spending around £2.4m in the local economy.
The Old Town Hall was built in 1841 but ceased to be operational as a public building in the 1990s.
It is set to open its doors to the public again in spring 2016.
