An agreement has been reached between North Yorkshire Council and Ripon City Council that will see some of the key buildings, including the Town Hall, returned to local control.
This would be the first time since local government reorganisation back in the 1970s.
There will be a 99 year lease for an annual rent of just one pound for the Town Hall.
The agreement will have a break clause within the lease, which can be exercised only by the city council. So if the plan to re-configure the Town Hall and bring it back into public use doesn’t work, the city council can give 12 months notice and return it back to North Yorkshire.
There will also be a £55,000 pound contribution from North Yorkshire Council towards the cost of hiring consultants to develop a business case for refurbishment and reconstruction.
Ripon City Council is also looking to take full ownership of the building if all goes well.
Meanwhile there are also plans to bring the Hugh Ripley Hall, which is currently available for hire for community use or events and the Wakeman’s House, a very old building with an historic wattle and daub wall, into local public ownership too.
The Leader of the Independent Group on Ripon City Council, Andrew Williams, says he very pleased with the news: “Since 1974 Ripon Town Hall has been run and owned by, firstly Harrogate Council and now North Yorkshire Council.
“The bottom line, as far as I’m concerned, as a lifelong Riponian, is it is Ripon’s Town Hall, it belongs to nobody else. The people of Ripon and its council should be the ones responsible for running it.”
“Nothing has been spent on the town hall in over 20 years, and this is an opportunity to bring a building back into full time use, which will bring new life to the building and new life to the city.”
