Consultants have come up with three options to revamp Grade II-listed Cleckheaton town hall to turn it into a showpiece venue for the community.

The first, costing £450,000, would involve putting in a new lift to the hall and balconies, refurbishing the bar, restoring the public stairway, providing extra toilets and landscaping outside to improve access.

The second alternative, costing £815,000, would include all those improvements as well remodelling the ground floor to make the foyer bigger and putting in a cafe/bar.

It would also include upgrading the ceremonial stairway and building a new staircase with better fire escapes, improving the car park, relocating parking for disabled orange badge holders and smartening up the general environment.

And the third option, costing £1.7 million, would include all those proposals and two others.

One would be creating an extension at stage and balcony levels constructed over existing flat-roofed offices, with a lift and backstage facilities.

The second would be restoring the balcony by removing the proscenium - the arch separating the stage from the auditorium and the area immediately in front of the arch - and stage extension and replacing them with alternatives which would be detachable.

All the proposals have been drawn up by Hipperholme-based arts management consultants Jackson Quigg as part of a £60,000 feasibility study commissioned by Kirklees Council on improvements for the four town halls in North Kirklees.

The consultants say the cheapest option for Cleckheaton is the "least adventurous" architecturally and artistically but the other two would boost income for the Council from the better bar and catering facilities.

Councillor Gordon North (Lab, Spen), chairman of the Spen Valley Working Party which was presented with the report at the town hall this week, said: "We are hoping to get National Lottery funding for the improvements but we don't know what our chances are because the Arts Council Lottery Board has changed all the rules." But he said some improvements would be made anyway.

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