Irreplaceable and vital asset

The Pump Rooms house the local library and the local art gallery and museum and the local visitors information office. These amenities are not expected to make a profit for the community; they are a cost, like schools and rubbish collection and roads maintenance. That is why we pay taxes to local and national government.

Just before the Millenium £7 million of tax and rate-payers’ money was spent by WDC to convert the building to its present purposes. Why are the buildings not used more by the community? It is dead and empty in the evenings and for much of the weekend.

If WDC wishes to reduce the net cost of the Pump Rooms they should market them for dinners and concerts and meetings at a rate which will attract local supporters – as they used to do. The Pump Rooms are a vital and irreplaceable asset for the whole community and even discussing the possibility of a sale might jeopardise the current plan to restore the Pump Room Gardens.

The Pump Rooms need better management, including better catering.

Marianne Pitts, The Leamington Society