Council will decide at their next Council meeting whether to fund a community-focussed participatory design process to take place at the Civic Hall in an “open door studio”.

After years of stale-mate and dissent, and much community consultation – which Council has largely ignored – this new process aims to produce 3 fully fleshed out plans.

The process should start in a month or so and will involve artists, architecture students, the general community – including children, and the stakeholders of the Civic Hall and its site.  The emphasis will be on finding consensus.

Guiding the whole process will be a stakeholder advisory committee which should represent a wide range of views on the future of the Civic Hall and its site. It is expected that members of SCH will be part of this group.

Save Civic Hall will support and actively promote this so long as the process and overarching stakeholder committee is not seen as biased towards demolition or other unsuitable, especially non-community, uses of the Civic Hall.

Save Civic Hall is encouraging Council to include representatives from the arts, health and community based interest groups.