Fears over Llanidloes Old Market Hall closure plan

Image source, Elgan Hearn

Image caption, The timber-framed market hall in Llanidloes is the last of its kind surviving in Wales

A 16th Century building is facing closure as a visitor attraction due to grant cuts.

The Grade I-listed Old Market Hall in Llanidloes has housed a display about timber buildings since 2003.

Powys County Council said the committee which runs the premises has known since 2016 it planned to end its funding.

Councillor Gareth Morgan said the town council, which owns the hall, might take legal action, claiming a breach to the terms of lottery funding.

The hall was built in about 1612, but some of its timbers date back to the previous century and might have come from an earlier market hall in the town.

Image source, Charles Kightly

Image caption, An exhibition is housed inside the hall

Once at the centre of the Welsh woollen trade, the building has also been used as a jail, museum and workingmen's institute.

The hall is leased to the county council which turned it into a visitor attraction with Heritage Lottery Fund money.

A county council spokesman said it had taken legal advice and decided in 2016 as part of budget decisions to progressively cut the annual grant from 拢3,850 in 2016/17 to 拢2,550 in 2017/18 and 拢1,250 in 2018/19.

"The committee was informed of the decision in 2016 and confirmed in writing that they understood the grant would end and they would receive no further funding from April 1 2019," they said.

However, Mr Morgan, a retired solicitor and a member of Llanidloes Town Council, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service he believed the county council was in breach of the terms of its lottery funding, and that the town council had been advised to take legal action.

"I am shocked that Powys County Council should pay such scant regard for its legal obligations, for an attraction that brings in large numbers of visitors to Llanidloes every year," he said.