POOLE'S Civic Centre building is next to Poole Park. It is grand, just like the park. However, having been left empty it now costs a lot of money to keep safe from intruders. Unfortunately the breakdown of figures for this "lot of money" is a bit of a mystery at time of writing.

When Bournemouth Town Hall needed renovation money was found and it was renovated. When Poole Museum and quite a few historic buildings in the old town and along the quay needed renovation, heritage grants were found nationally.

When Poole Park needed a sprucing up, again, a lottery grant was found. I found it rather ironic this week to be in a meeting in Bournemouth's beautifully renovated town hall now renamed civic centre to be hearing about Poole's building being too expensive to maintain and a terrible burden to the tax payer.

Well, left un-let to people who could make good use of it for weddings and conferences, of course it is a burden.

If it comes to that, why not just sell Bournemouth Town Hall back to the hospitality industry it came from as a hotel again?

It certainly wasn't built as a civic centre, whereas Poole's building was. Huge amount of capitol raised for the council tax payer and the council meetings can be moved to a nice marquee in the Triangle.

Susan Stockwell

Britannia Road,

Poole