Progress made on Sub Rooms review after 350 attend information open day

Council officers and councillors wove their way through the crowds speaking to interested residents and community groups, sharing information on its history, viability and costs and listening to the views of residents.

The Stroud District Council-organised (SDC) open day presented information the main three options for the ownership of the community arts venue, as well as the review and its timescale and process.

Due to tightening budgets, the council is carrying out a review of some of its assets in the Five Valleys, including the Sub Rooms, which costs £415,000 to run every year.

Three options have been proposed; have SDC retain ownership, transfer the freehold to another organisation such as Stroud Town Council, a Trust or public sector body, or put the building on the open market.

Doina Cornell, district councillor and deputy leader of the labour group on SDC is heading up the review task team looking into the Sub Rooms.

“There was a really great atmosphere on Saturday, we had around 350 people pop in throughout the day,” she said.

“Participants were really positive and it was great to hear the views of the community. I saw first-hand just how passionate people are about this venue and how much it is valued.

“It’s clear people want the Sub Rooms to remain a community arts venue for the town. That’s what we at the council want to happen too.

“Obviously we have to consider the rising costs as a key factor. Money will be a big thing in these debates.

“So we are looking at ways to address this. We think there is a lot more potential in the building and want to utilise it fully.

“As of now, we have yet to receive any expressions of interest from community groups, but there is still time for this. We need an initial expressions by March 17.

“Organisations will then be invited to submit a detailed plan by August 31, 2017.

“Meanwhile the town council has also scheduled meetings soon to gather information and hear the views of people in Stroud.

“We have also seen some interest from other parties in Stroud and further afield in Gloucestershire. I think we could see some quite interesting proposals come forward.

“On our side, we will continue to push forward with the review. Thankfully we have time to properly explore option available to us. We do have flexibility.

“We’ll be making a report and recommendations for Strategy & Resources committee in September or October. So it’s possible a decision won’t be made until next year.”

The Sub Rooms is the only council-owned and run arts and entertainment facility in the district.

It has been registered as a ‘community asset’ in order to allow groups or organisations to officially make transfer bids.

To make an expression of interest in running or taking over the Sub Rooms in any capacity, initial contact should be via subrooms.review@stroud.gov.uk

SDC will contact you with a short form to gather your details. No detailed plan will be required at this stage.

• Option 1) Retain the property and service within SDC.

This potentially includes:

• efficiency measures

• investment for income generation

• co-location of public and/or commercial services

• contracting out the management of all or part of the Sub Rooms service operations.

• cessation of service and mothballing of all/part of property

• Option 2: ‘Dispose’ of the freehold or offer a leasehold interest in the property to a:

• Community Interest Group/

• Trust/

• public sector body or

• commercial organisation

• Option 3: Cease delivery of the service and ‘dispose’ of the Council’s freehold (or offer a leasehold) interest in the property on the open market for an alternative use.

Much of the information is available on SDCs website www.stroud.gov.uk