Subscribe to trusted local news
If you are accessing this story via Facebook but you are a subscriber then you will be unable to access the story. Facebook wants you to stay and read in the app and your login details are not shared with Facebook. If you experience problems with accessing the news but have subscribed, please contact subscriptions@thestrayferret.co.uk. In a time of both misinformation and too much information, quality journalism is more crucial than ever. By subscribing, you can help us get the story right.
- Subscription costs less than £1 a week with an annual plan.
Already a subscriber? Log in here.
10
Sept
Restoration of Ripon’s crumbling town hall set to begin
Scaffolding is expected to go up soon on one of the district’s most historic buildings as a major restoration project gets underway.
Ripon Town Hall, a grade two listed building overlooking the market square, was built in 1799 to a stuccoed design by James Wyatt.
But the town hall is rundown and little used. The Stray Ferret reported on its dilapidated state this year.
In a historic deal this year, North Yorkshire Council agreed to transfer the lease of the building to Ripon City Council for 99 years.
The city council is undertaking a long-term project to repair and revive the town hall, which even has a nuclear bunker in its back garden, so more people can use it.
(left to right) Council leader Cllr Carl Les, Mayoress of Ripon, Cllr Jackie Crozier, Mayor of Ripon, Cllr Andrew Williams, and North Yorkshire Council’s executive member for corporate services, Cllr Heather Phillips outside Ripon Town Hall.
A planning application has now been submitted for the first phase of work, which involves improving the crumbling, stuccoed façade.
Contractors have been appointed and the city council hopes work will begin in time for completion by Remembrance Sunday, when the town hall forms the backdrop of much of the day’s activities.
Under the plans, the façade will be redecorated using a compatible, conservation-grade, vapour-permeable mineral coating system, damaged render and stucco will be repaired and the ground floor railings will be repaired and redecorated.
The decorative frieze will also be enhanced, and the inscription “Except Ye Lord Keep Ye Cittie Ye Wakeman Waketh in Vain’ refreshed.
No internal alterations, demolition or roof works will take place during phase one.
The entrance to the nuclear bunker at the rear of the town hall.
Open to the public
Ripon Town Hall will host its third public engagement session on Saturday (September 12), at which residents will be invited to look round the building and suggest what they would like it to be used for.
North Yorkshire Council provided £55,000 to get the project off the ground. However, Ripon City Council will need to fundraise millions of pounds if it is to fulfil its vision of restoring the building to its former glory and wider civic use.
Skipton Town Hall’s £4.7 million restoration, which transformed the 1860s building into a venue that includes a concert hall, museum and gallery, is regarded as a model to follow.
Skipton Town Hall received funding from organisations including Craven District Council, the National Lottery Heritage Fund and Arts Council England.
Ripon City Council's deputy clerk Mark Williamson told a city council meeting on Monday that the public body Historic England had rejected a phase one funding application because it focused on supporting more deprived areas.
0