RESIDENTS in Chepstow are at risk of losing their say on the future of a much-loved public building, says a town councillor.

Cllr Lisset Burrett claims that plans revealed in the Free Press last week of a bid to secure a £1 million funding grant for the Drill Hall has “caused a bit of a storm”.

The St Mary’s Ward member said that she had a received a “flurry of e-mails and phone calls” from hall users, residents and former committee members.

Concerns included the “signing over” of the hall “free of charge” to the five self-appointed members of the hall’s volunteering management committee.

“We cannot let a publicly-owned asset such as this be given away. It is, in effect, owned by all residents of Monmouthshire and should remain in our hands” said Cllr Burrett.

“Residents are concerned that a small number of the volunteer committee have recently set up a new organisation and have appointed themselves as the trustees who will have sole voting rights on all aspects of the running of the hall and everything will be done behind closed doors. Not even our democratically-elected town councillors will have any say in the running of the hall and it will not be transparent or open to public scrutiny.”

The Labour councillor added: “The worry is that a million pounds will be spent on an extension but the programming and narrow cultural agenda will remain the same.”

Chairman Cllr Ned Haywood had told Chepstow Town Council earlier this month that the plans would “massively enhance” the facilities.

Speaking yesterday he disputed claims that the hall has a “narrow cultural agenda” and that committee members having ties to Chepstow Museum and Chepstow Festival could lead to “conflicts of interest”.

Cllr Burrett had raised concerns over the two parties making “priority block bookings” in the Drill Hall events calendar.

“In the hall’s lease signed by the town council, the museum is allowed to have 100 free sessions a year,” he said.

“With the festival, which is held once every two years, they book the hall for three weeks then local groups block slots within that period.

He added: “[Cllr Burrett’s] jumped the gun with these comments. If she had talked to us before, the situation would’ve been explained to her.”