Haddington Town House will only be used as a venue for meetings of East Lothian Council and its committees until further notice.
The Haddington Town House has recently been undergoing work which includes repointing, stonework and electric repairs. The completion of these works in the coming weeks will help preserve the fabric of the building, which sits in a prominent town centre location, for the future.
A ‘hybrid’ meeting system is also in the process of being installed in the council chamber on the ground floor. This will enable participants who wish to join meetings of East Lothian Council and its committees on an ‘in person’ basis to do so, whilst also enabling others to join the meeting remotely – for example from another work location or office. As the equipment for this needs to remain permanently in place, the chamber is unsuitable for other uses.
It is hoped the installation of this system will be completed in the next few weeks, subject to the completion of successful tests.
The rest of the building – which has been disused since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic – will continue to be temporarily ‘mothballed’ at this time and remain unavailable for general public use for the foreseeable future. The historic building will only be used as a venue for meetings of East Lothian Council and its committees until further notice.
The decision has been taken because of the extremely challenging financial environment which local government continues to experience and the fact that the council has to focus on supporting core frontline services.
Anyone enquiring about use of the Town House will be signposted to alternative venues within Haddington, such as Knox Academy, which already provides access to open and staffed facilities which are available for public and community use.
Cabinet Member for Community Wellbeing, Cllr Colin McGinn, said: “Haddington Town House is a much-loved local landmark at the heart of the town centre. We are pleased that works to enhance the fabric of the building are approaching completion.
“The council, like all local authorities, is dealing with very significant cost pressures at the current time. The financial challenges have been compounded by the fact that some of our teams are extremely stretched, with vacancies and staff shortages, and so we are having to focus our limited resources on essential frontline services such as the cleaning of schools and care homes at this time.
“Unfortunately, with the exception of meetings of East Lothian Council and its committees, the Town House will remain unavailable for general public use for the foreseeable future.
“Anyone who makes an enquiry about booking the Town House will be signposted to alternative facilities available locally – such as Knox Academy, which has a range of bookable spaces which are already open, staffed and available for public and community use. These arrangements have already been working well.
“We thank the community for their understanding and patience and we will look to provide a further update in the months ahead.”