OPTIONS to make better use of Fordingbridge Town Hall are being explored by the town council.

A working group of councillors has been set up to discuss the matter. Cllr Edward Hale, at a meeting of Fordingbridge Town Council last Wednesday, said councillors had met with a conservation officer and discussed options for the town hall, which included making better use of the upstairs of the building.

Cllr Hale said: “We are looking at options whether there is some way we can improve the staircase. The conservation officer isn’t opposed to that.”

He told the meeting a “big problem” with making better use of the upstairs was the staircase as the projector room was overhanging stopping the staircase going up in equal sections.

He said another option discussed was having the visitor information centre in the town hall which could operate from the ground floor while council officers used the upstairs facilities.

Cllr Hale said: “When we met as a working group we talked about what we were trying to achieve. We all agreed that the issue of saving money from the current arrangements of operating in two bases has got to be a reason to try and improve the town hall. The other thing is bringing all the staff together and thirdly making better use of the town hall, which is what we are trying to achieve.”

The meeting heard another possibility was reconfiguring the kitchen and toilets but Cllr Hale said it was “too expensive” to consider at the moment.

Mayor, Cllr Malcolm Connolly, said it will discussed further by the general purposes committee, adding: “We need someone outside our own council to look at the town hall with the information you have got and come up with some ideas for it.”