20,000 leaflets being delivered for feedback on Buxton’s Town Hall

This week leaflets asking for feedback on the future of the Grade II listed building will be dropping through letterboxes across Buxton.

Colin Mullins from Mullins Associates (Group) Limited wants residents to have their say.

He said: “The Town Hall is a beautiful building but it is not being properly utilised and I want to change that.

“But this won’t be my building, this will be about keeping the building as part of the community and for that we need to know what the community wants going forward.”

High Peak Borough Council put the Town Hall on the market back in April and Colin is one of the interested parties who is looking to take it over but nothing he clarifies has been decided by the council about the next owners.

“It costs the council hundreds of thousands of pounds to open the doors each year so they need it to go but we don’t want it sold off to the highest bidder who doesn’t have the town’s best interest at heart.”

Should Colin get the keys to the Town Hall he wants to create a charity and it would be run by a board of directors who all have Buxton at the heart of their decisions and what is right for the town.

This could include creating events space, artisan markets, as well as meeting spaces.

Engagement with the wider Buxton community is ongoing, with the team continuing to speak with local groups and organisations to gather responses and understand the priorities of residents.

The leaflets are a continuation of this market research and he is looking for feedback.

Colin said: “We want to have the priorities of residents at the forefront of what we are doing.

“So that’s why we are delivering all these leaflets. We want people to tell us what they want from the building.” Colin and the trustees will be at Buxton Market Place Tuesday September, 22 and 29 giving residents the opportunity to find out more about the proposals.