DRUITT Hall in Christchurch will stay open until May as talks continue between council bosses and supporters.

Despite Christchurch Borough Council’s initial plans to destroy the hall and repeated vow to close the facility on March 31, the council says it is now working with the community to provide a hall in the town centre.

A recent meeting held at the council’s civic offices saw discussions between the Mayor of Christchurch, Cllr Peter Hall, who chaired the meeting, as well as members of the town centre ward, officers and representatives of the newly-formed Druitt Hall Assoc-iation.

Loyal supporters of Druitt Hall have been fighting for more than a year to ensure its survival.

In the emerging core strategy, the council said there was no need for a new community hall in the town centre.

Strategic director for the Christchurch and East Dorset Partnership Neil Farmer said: “We had a very positive meeting with both parties actively wanting to work together to progress plans, which could see a new hall built on land within the Druitt Gardens within two years.

Bournemouth Echo:

“The council has agreed to keep the existing hall open until the end of May 2013 to give representatives of the hall time to prepare a full business case for the short-term retention of the existing hall while a new hall is designed and built.”

The council says it intends to provide officer support to the Druitt Hall Association to help develop its plans, with another meeting scheduled for next month.

The mayor said: “I’m delighted that we’re moving forward very positively towards the refurbishment of the current hall and the provision of a new replacement hall.

“The council agreement to a two-month extension on the current hall is very welcome.”

Elliot Marx, speaking on behalf of the new Druitt Hall Association, said: “We would like to thank the mayor for his ongoing and valuable facilitation and we believe real progress was made in showing the council that we have the capacity to take forward sensible plans for a new hall.”