Community arts plan scuppered (From Western Telegraph)

Community arts plan scuppered

Concern continues to grow over council plans for the old county offices on St Thomas Green, Haverfordwest, and the way would-be buyers have been treated, according to Community Action Network (CAN).

After 18 months of negotiations and tens of thousands of pounds spent, the council has decided to withdraw from an agreement which would have seen the building house a £2 million community arts and voluntary sector project, including a gallery of work from world-renowned artist Ralph Steadman.

Adele Blakebrough, co-founder of CAN, said: Legally and technically the council has done nothing wrong. Morally however, it is another matter. CAN was invited to view the property, which has been empty for two years and is valued at £200,000, and agreed it was perfect for its needs.

It paid a £2,000 lock-out agreement - meaning the council would not sell the building to any other party - and went about fundraising for the project. Delays occurred on both sides - including the council allegedly losing the title deeds - and the time-limit for the exchange of contracts passed.

A county council spokesman said: Pembrokeshire County Council was willing to sell the former county offices to CAN.

A timescale was agreed and councillors decided if the timescale were to be exceeded the authority would review its position.

However, Ms Blakebrough said: We were gearing up to exchange contracts - most of the slowing down came from the councils end.

During this time, the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park authority, which occupies part of the building, began to look into the possibility of relocating, and the council decided to keep the buildings under its control - possibly with the view of creating a leisure centre on the site some time in the future.

The council spokesman said: The council would not wish to comment on the prudence or otherwise of spending money on a building which CAN did not own.

Ms Blakebrough said: This is not the way the public and private sector interact nowadays. It cannot deal with people in such a dismissive way anymore.

This has been done in the name of Pembrokeshire. The council has let its constituents down.