Cambridge Town Hall will be leased to a community trust

Cambridge Town Hall is being leased to a community trust with the aim seeing it improved and used more. Photo / Supplied

An agreement has been approved to lease Cambridge Town Hall to a community trust to improve the facility's condition and increase its use.

Waipā District Council last week approved a lease and services agreement with the Cambridge Town Hall Community Trust which will transfer operational control of the town hall to the trust.

The council's deputy chief executive, Ken Morris, said the council had been working with the trust over several months to finalise the agreement, based on the successful model established with the Waipā Community Facilities Trust.

"The trust is already successfully leasing, managing and operating the aquatic facilities across the district and ASB Stadium in Te Awamutu so we have developed the agreement with the Cambridge Town Hall Community Trust with this in mind, he said.

"Our aim is to improve the condition and functionality of this much loved, iconic community facility. Council's current Long Term Plan provides for a major redevelopment of the Cambridge Town Hall together with funding to achieve that," Morris said.

The town hall trust was established in 2021 following a resolution by the council's Finance and Corporate Committee in December 2020 that it was the preferred service delivery model for the hall.

The endorsement followed a one-month public consultation process seeking views for the future use and management of the town hall.

Morris said one of the great features of a system with a charitable trust was that it could make proposals to funding partners and attract funds that might not otherwise be available to the council.