Council to consider advertising campaign to increase use of civic buildings

It follows a report to members, at a Corporate Policy and Resources Committee meeting on Tuesday, April 23, which sought approval for a five percent increase in hiring charges for the area’s community buildings and town halls.

A council officer said the cost of operating buildings had increased, particularly in relation to staffing and energy, but no room hire charge increases were applied in 2023/24. It is the intention to bring back a report on the potential future use of the civic buildings to council in September 2024.

The council’s chief executive, David Jackson, said the increase was to “cover additional operating costs”, and that all facilities would continue to operate at a loss. As an example, the increase will mean that hiring Coleraine Town Hall’s main Hall would increase from £12.50 per hour to £13.12 per hour.

UUP Councillor Darryl Wilson said the council “could be doing much to advertise” town halls and community centres in the borough. He proposed that officers returned a paper with a promotion and targeted advertising strategy outlining “what facilities we have and at what cost”.

“We have a lot of fantastic facilities that are not expensive,” Cllr Wilson said. “And the usage figures are very, very low. Sometimes people will ring a representative and you can mention some of the community centres or town hall and how much they are they’re saying “are you sure that’s all it is?”, so I think we could get our usage up.”

Mr Jackson said there was competition for room hire but, given the hiring cost for the buildings are “markedly cheaper than the private sector”, the council could be “doing something to advertise and get the usage figures up”.

He concluded: “Some of the usage us sitting at 19 percent of useable capacity, and Portstewart Town Hall back in the day was running at nine percent.

“There’s an opportunity for a fresh look and some improvements, and there’s a social aspect as well as our responsibility is to provide affordable spaces for community groups.”