Major repair works to a historic town hall building may have “wasted” £900,000 of council money with leaks still reported, a meeting heard.

The work to repair and refurbish Westhoughton Town Hall on Market Street have long been under discussion at Bolton Council.

A recent leaders meeting heard how questions about the state of the town hall had last been put to council deputy leader Cllr Akhtar Zaman last November.

Cllr David Wilkinson, of Westhoughton South, said: “In a November council meeting I asked a question about where we were with the town hall.

“Because work should have started in November last year and Akhtar got up and said ‘sorry we can’t do the work there’s a hole in the roof.

The building is a key Westhoughton landmarkThe building is a key Westhoughton landmark (Image: Paul Heyes) “Now considering we spent £900,000 or so on fixing the roof I’d like to know where we are not just on behalf of me but on behalf of all Westhoughton ward councillors north and south.”

He added: “And I did see the videos and it wasn’t a leak, it was a bloody waterfall to put it mildly.”

A report put before the meeting saying that £1.793M had been transferred to the council’s development and regeneration capital programme for the Westhoughton Town Hall project.

This was to draw all the funding together for works on the building. 
Cllr Wilkinson asked the meeting if representatives in Westhoughton could be made fully aware of how the repair project progressed.

He said: “It just seems we’ve wasted £900 grand when we’re desperate for every penny, it doesn’t matter if its revenue or capital or whatever and this building is still sat there.”

He added: “I’m hoping some heads will roll to be quite honest, particularly the people who did the work in the first place.”

Council leader Cllr Nick Peel acknowledged the issue had been “lingering for some years” both under his and previous leader Cllr Martyn Cox’s administrations.

He said he would ask for a written briefing note to be sent out to members as soon as possible and invited further questions at council meetings.

Director of corporate resources Lee Fallows said that the project was led by the authority’s regeneration team.

He said a more detailed review of the town hall project will “probably involve a roof replacement of some description” to ensure more long-lasting repairs.

ALSO READ: Civic building 'sat there' amid £3.5m town hall revamp

ALSO READ: 'Not possible' to start work revamping historic town hall this summer

ALSO READ: Work on revamping 'majestic' town hall set to get underway soon

Mr Fallows said: “There’s no point paying a load of money to do a regen piece of the roof is still leaking in.”

Assistant director of development and regeneration Paul Whittingham said the authority had secured funding for the town hall repairs and had secured a construction firm for the scheme.

He said that the review would explore issues with the roof and whether it would need significant contract extensions.

Cllr Peel said the authority would convene a meeting with the six Westhoughton councillors and key officers to discuss the situation.