The following is a comment piece from this week's SNJ (Oct 31) written by Kevin Cranston, the mayor of Stroud.

There are visible signs of what the future holds for the Subscription Rooms.

The town council has unveiled the proposed improvements to the venue when it is transferred to our ownership next year.

As with all transfers and sales of properties there is an incredible amount of work going on in the background - work that involves vital legal and commercial due diligence.

The Charity Commission has now granted charitable status to the Stroud Subscription Rooms Trust. Now the Trust can get fully engaged in arranging the transfer of the staff and business from the district council.

The district council is about to let a contract to repair the roof and stonework so there should be scaffolding appearing in the not too distant future.

We held a well-attended consultation in the Sub Rooms, where ideas for refurbishing the interior were on display. The reaction was mostly positive.

The only widespread objection was the lack of a Tourist Information Centre but the district council, which is responsible for the service, is conducting a major review of tourism across the district and will be announcing their plans including the future of the District TIC in December.

We don’t know what their plans are yet but we have offered to work with them to explore ideas about how and where the service might be delivered in the future.

Earlier this year people pledged nearly £50,000 to help refurbish the building.

People are now being asked to honour those pledges.

Donations can be made electronically via the website stroudtown.gov.uk, via cheque (made payable to Stroud Town Council) and dropped off at the town council offices or sent via post.

All payments must be accompanied by a donation form which is available on the town council website or from the town council office.