Possible closures of much-loved Bury venues!

Press release from a Bury Council Executive meeting , discussing the findings of a scrutiny commission on Wednesday 14th October.

Councillor Bibby said: “We want to make sure that as part of this review process we hear the views of members of the local community. I want to make sure that ideas from local residents about alternative use, the services the venues could provide and whether there are better ways to run the service are heard and considered”.

“The public tell us they like these venues, but the figures presented to the Executive demonstrate they are under used – at their busiest, less than half of the available hours are booked, and the figure drops to as low as 12%. We need to make sure that all of the Council run venues prove to be good value for money for the local tax payer and we need to make sure that these venues are utilised in a cost effective way. The local community who use these venues will have some ideas about what they would like to see happen to them in the future and we need to hear these views to make sure they are taken into consideration as part of the final recommendations.”

The recommendations from Bury Council for Bury Venues

* Retain the Elizabethan Suite, with significant investment to make it the premier conference and function venue in Bury.

* Retain Ramsbottom Civic Hall, at the heart of a thriving market town, with the aim of having it self-managed by an appropriate local voluntary or community group.

* Reconfigure the use of Radcliffe Civic Suite to make it more effective. Options being explored include relocating the town’s library and becoming a hub for community services.

* Reconfigure the use of the Longfield Suite. Given that there are plans to develop the whole of the Longfield site, and Prestwich town centre, this is a good time to consider a range of alternative community uses.

At thebestofbury we can vouch for the importance of the Longfield Suite in particular as we hold our Networking Events and Business Exhibitions there several times a year. We have found the Longfield Suite to be an excellent venue and many of our attendees have commented on how well the room worked for the event.

"The Longfield Suite is an excellent venue, ample free parking and a lift to the exhibition floor. Very large size room with bar serving refreshments. Staff were very obliging and friendly" Claire H

There is also the small issue that nowhere else is big enough for us anymore, as we regularly attract 120-150 local businesses! We also know the Longfield to be of vital importance to the local community with many classes and activities taking place for all ages. We would be very disappointed if the Longfield Suite closed and would urge the local community to support it.