Lancaster’s Storey will remain a creative hub, after councillors voted against redevelopment and sell off.
The decision will be welcomed by current tenants, who argued it should continue to operate, offering detailed and powerful arguments in favour of the option (see news story).
At a city council meeting yesterday councillors voted unanimously to support the tenants and decided not to back council officers preferred option to seek
redevelopment of the building to complement future uses of Lancaster
Castle.
The Lancaster Guardian and Morecambe Visitor both report the city council will now
investigate exactly how the Storey will be run and paid for, after
Storey Creative Industries Centre Ltd (SCIC), which managed the
building, went into liquidation in August.
Coun Abbott
Bryning, a former board member of SCIC Ltd told the meeting selling the building off, which was also suggested, would be a public relations disaster for the Council.
“If you decide to sell
it off, you’ll have thousands of Lancastrians round your neck,” he told councillors.