A town hall revamp to encourage members of the public through its doors and improve disabled access could strip the public purse of £131,000.

South Lakeland District Council's plans to "improve and modernise" Kendal Town Hall comes at a time when the authority is already under fire for considering steep Council Tax rises and closing public toilets due to ailing funds.

Under the proposals being examined by an SLDC scrutiny committee, the council chamber, committee room, members' room and ladies' toilets would all benefit from the listed building's six-figure facelift.

Director of administration at SLDC Jim Morrison stressed that the proposed improvements, which include a £5,250 make-over for the councillors' private room, were "not for council members' comfort".

"The reason we have put forward these changes is because we really need to make it easier for members of the public and council who may also be disabled to get into meetings. At the moment it is something of a trial.

"We are also seeing many members of the public turning up to planning meetings and there really isn't enough space to accommodate them in the council chamber."

The £60,000 earmarked for council chamber improve-ments includes chair lift access and the levelling of the floor to improve disabled access. As the proposals stand, the chamber's fixed tables and seating would be ripped out and replaced by new furniture costing £20,000.

Networked IT installation and the upgrading of the public gallery to meet fire safety regulations, which would deal with the overflow of people at public meetings, is also planned for the chamber.

The £25,300 put aside for the two committee rooms, used by SLDC and Kendal Town Council, would see the rooms knocked into one plus improved ventilation, noise reduction and new furniture, lighting and decoration.

Coun Barclay Stainton said that although improvements such as disabled access and improved acoustics were needed, he felt that "many of the items were excessive".

"While we want to encourage the public to use the building we don't need Buckingham Palace to do that," he said.

Leader of SLDC Coun Colin Hodgson said: "These improvements are necessary. We have a problem with acoustics, disabled access and the fact that the council chamber does not accommodate all 52 members.

"I can understand people will ask questions but it's not possible to utilise this money towards keeping public conveniences open. It's a separate pot of money for capital use not revenue."

Mr Morrison said the money would come from the proceeds of the sale of Shearman House to pub-chain Wetherspoons and that the final decision on the improvements rested with full council.

February 14, 2003 10:00