Public opinion was overwhelmingly in favour of keeping the building as a community resource - a community centre for the centre of the town, and a venue for local performers.
Horsham district council pushed their plans through in the face of much public opposition, making it clear that they had no intention of changing their mind.
Now there is an opportunity to re-visit the decision, with the possibility that this will still be unresolved by the time the council is up for re-election, meaning that perhaps the public will get a chance to make their views known in a way the council has to take notice of - with their ballot papers!
Horsham Labour party's campaign co-ordinator, Carol Hayton, wrote to the County Times on this subject. The full text of her letter is as follows:
The decision by Bill's to pull out of the town hall project gives the council an opportunity to prove that it is working in the interests of the people of Horsham.
A significant number of residents demonstrated in the consultation about the town hall's future that they wanted to see this building used as a community venue.
The council's refusal to listen to the views of residents was a costly mistake which it now has the chance to put right. We call upon the Tories running the council to act in the proclaimed spirit of their own government's pland for a 'big society', and allow local people to determine the future of the hall.
In the process they coulc demonstrate that the big society is not morely a smokescreen to conceal an ideologically driven determination to cut back on publicly funded services in favour of initiatives that fill the coffers of business at tax payers' expense.
The town hall should be handed back to the people of Horsham. Now is the perfect time to do this as the Big Lottery's Reaching Communities Capital Grants funding stream has just opened. This will provide grants of up to £500,000 to transform community buildings.
Surely the councilshould welcome such an initiative which would allow it to retain an important asset for the community at little cost to the tax payer.
I challenge the Tory council to support an appropriate organisation, Blue Flash Music Trust for example, in ensuring that the town hall is used for the purpose that the people of Horsham prefer, with an application for funding, if appropriate, to deliver a modern town centre community venue, a resource we can all be proud of.