Council Buy Royal British Legion Building
For Relocation Of The Martlets Hall
7th November 2014
by Peter Chapman

In not so secret news, we can reveal that the council are buying the Royal British Legion building on Cyprus Road.

At the recent public exhibition of the plans for the Martlets Shopping Centre, Cllr Andrew Barrett-Miles claimed that news regarding the British Legion was going to be announced soon. We didn't want to wait, so went and did some investigating.....

Under Offer
The Clifford Dann Property website now has the British Legion listed as 'Under Offer'.

Outside the building, the 'for sale/to let' sign has now gone.

Private Council Meeting
A council meeting this Monday has 'building matters' as part of the private agenda, hmmmm, we wonder what that could be about!

We're putting 2 and 2 together here and making 4... and a bit.

The New Martlets Hall
The council have yet to respond to the public's enquiries as to why there are no plans for a replacement for the Martlets Hall. It would be mad to leave the town without one.

We believe they are soon to announce that the British Legion, Cyprus Hall and the land at the rear of the Cyprus Road car park will be used to create an entertainment venue along with extra rooms for commuity use. This would be the logical development.



Something Smaller?
If they are only looking to make something on a smaller scale, then they could simply use the land on which the British Legion and Cyprus Hall are currently sited.



Documents on the town council website indicate that land to the rear of the Cyprus Road car park was going to be used for housing, but has since been deemed unsuitable due to complexities of what's underground. Too complex to build a new entertainments venue on it?

The Outlandish, Scandalous Suggestion
How about, if they want to build a new venue, large in size, but can't use the rear of the car park, could we see the council take over the whole row? This would be the Orion Cinema, Salvation Army Hall, Conservative Club, British Legion and Cyprus Hall? In the neighbourhood plan it clearly shows that this area is to be used for civic buildings, so it really could happen.


Could all these buildings be merged into one?

Of course, any such purchasing of buildings would surely be paid for by NewRiver Retail. Our council wouldn't just hand over the public's assets at the shopping centre with nothing in return, would they?

Sorry Cllr Andrew Barrett-Miles, we've just stolen your thunder!