Winsford Town Council should not move to a refurbished Brunner Guildhall is one of my conclusions to the open day on Saturday.

The ground floor rooms are too small for a full council; the council taking the first floor rooms with the partition, continuously unfolded as it would need to be, permanently would exclude this only space for socials, weddings etc.

The use of this space only for full council is also not practical.

Where is the WTC furniture to be stored at other times, for one?

Then the cost. The estimated annual revenue needed for the refurbished Guildhall, we were told, is £30,000 pa.

WTC currently pay CWAC £13,000 pa, I believe, for the rooms in Wyvern House.

I would expect WTC to reduce this cost with a move.

But, crucially, a move could leave WTC funding deficits if the other rooms do not generate revenue.

WTC’s rooms in Wyvern House are not ideal: it is a squeeze for full council.

But with the benefits of the local authority services hub at Wyvern House, I am convinced that WTC should stay at Wyvern House and the funding challenge of a refurbished Brunner Guildhall be met without the temptation of WTC being there to pick up the tab.

What, too, is the fall-back option if the current proposal does not qualify for funding?

In that context, shouldn’t the felling of the tree on the front have been postponed until that funding was confirmed? It is one thing to re-establish a full view of a refurbished Brunner Guildhall by felling the tree.

But if the future of the Brunner Guildhall is housing, as with the Leftwich Brunner Art College, the tree should have stayed.

Will Charlton

Winsford