Penistone Town Council could buy town hall and cinema for £1
"Given the huge amount of work needed to bring the building back into full use this seems like an appropriate price”
Penistone Town Council could offer to buy the Town Hall and Paramount cinema for £1, saying the building needs so much work that a token price is justified.
Councillors will debate the move on Monday, September 28, amid a growing row over Barnsley Council’s decision to pause a £1.8m redevelopment.
More than 5,000 people had signed a petition launched by Penistone and Stocksbridge MP Marie Tidball calling for the investment to be restored by September 19.
The shelved plans included a second cinema screen, a café and bar, and improved access.
Penistone Town Council, which already runs the Paramount under a lease, says the extra screen was key to making the venue viable for the future.
Mayor Coun Baroness Hannah Kitching said: “Penistone is fed up with being messed about by Barnsley Council.”
She said the promised work had been delayed repeatedly and that the town council had expected the completed building to be handed over through a community asset transfer.
The roof has been replaced, but Coun Kitching said the Town Hall still had no functioning heating system and parts remained inaccessible and unusable.
"Given the huge amount of work needed to bring the building back into full use this seems like an appropriate price," she added.
Barnsley Council has previosuly defended pausing the scheme, citing a £30m budget gap. Council leader William Brown said about £850,000 from the redevelopment project had already been spent upgrading the Town Hall and that the cinema would remain open, with work carried out to keep it operating. He said the council was developing a new investment programme for towns and villages, including Penistone.
If town councillors back the motion, they would instruct a solicitor to make an offer and establish a working group. Barnsley Council would still have to agree to any sale.
Town clerk Nigel Bailey said staff had spent “countless hours” planning how to run the whole building as a community asset.
The Town Hall opened in 1914 and has housed a cinema since 1915. Penistone Town Council took over the running of the Paramount when it faced closure in the early 1990s, while Barnsley Council retained ownership of the building.