{"id":27564,"date":"2013-03-25T12:48:44","date_gmt":"2013-03-25T02:48:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/?p=27564"},"modified":"2013-03-25T21:26:14","modified_gmt":"2013-03-25T11:26:14","slug":"council-to-consult-over-halls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2013\/03\/25\/council-to-consult-over-halls\/","title":{"rendered":"Council Will Consult Over Halls"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Cr<\/a>
SBRC Cr Deb Palmer
(Photo: SBRC)<\/figcaption><\/figure>March 25, 2013<\/strong><\/p>\n

The South Burnett Regional Council will consult local communities over the next 12 months about the future use of their halls.<\/p>\n

At this month’s Council meeting, Councillors heard the SBRC currently owns 14 community halls and manages 13 of them. <\/p>\n

One of these – the Blackbutt Community Hall – is now managed by the Blackbutt Community Council under an agreement struck last June.<\/p>\n

That arrangement has proven so successful the Council would now like to explore whether similar arrangements could be made with other community groups.<\/p>\n

The meeting was told Council currently spends $350,000 a year operating the hall and will have to spend a minimum of $1.6 million over the next 10 years to ensure they all meet safety standards. <\/p>\n

Halls at Tingoora and Hivesville are currently deemed unsafe and are closed. <\/p>\n

Communities General Manager Eleanor Sharpe told the meeting the proposal was aimed at smaller community halls, not town halls in the major centres.<\/p>\n

She said the time had come to consult with communities about how their halls are used because times are changing, and so are possible uses. <\/p>\n

Cr Deb Palmer noted that ever since the Blackbutt Community Council had taken over the day-to-day operations of the Blackbutt Hall after community discussions about the idea, things had “gone forward”.<\/p>\n

“The Blackbutt Community Council takes great pride in running the hall. And when halls are run by the community, they look after them better,” she said.<\/p>\n

Cr Cheryl Dalton said she was happy with the idea but suggested Council should talk with the Tingoora and Hivesville communities as soon as possible.<\/p>\n

Cr Kathy Duff agreed.<\/p>\n

“The Hivesville community don’t understand why their hall just sits there,” she said.<\/p>\n

Cr Palmer stressed the proposal wasn’t about giving away ownership of the halls.<\/p>\n

Instead, it was about giving communities day-to-day control over their halls again.
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