TIME is running out for Newton's last remaining civic building, councillors and community historians warned this week.

Newton East Clr Suzanne Knight has renewed calls for urgent action to halt the decline of Earlestown Town Hall.

Clr Knight says the Victorian centrepiece is rapidly deteriorating due to weathering and subsidence. She says little has been done to improve the building since she first highlighted the problem more than nine months ago.

"I'm extremely worried about our Town Hall - it looks an absolute eyesore and badly needs attention. It's had sticking plaster put on it for years without addressing the real problems," she said.

Clr Knight believes a portion of the £1 million needed for structural works should have been earmarked in the council's annual budget, announced earlier this month.

She said: "The Liberal Democrats recommended that £250,000 be put aside in the hope that we could attract matched funding. It's no use doing up Earlestown and leaving a Town Hall that is deteriorating by the year.

"I don't want it to get to the stage where the council is going to turn round and say it is not financially viable to repair it. I'm afraid it might go the way of the Civic Hall in High Street. It's the last civic building we've got, and one of only three remaining in the whole of St Helens."

The Town Hall was Newton's first public building and was donated to the people by Lord Newton. It has hosted all of Newton's major public events from announcements on the balcony on election night to the town's annual war memorial services.

Newton historian Pat Collier said: "The Town Hall has always been a focal point in our town - it is one of the last vestiges of Newton's local Government.

"There should have been progressive repairs to the building every year. They're doing all the shops up, so why on earth don't they sort the Town Hall out?"

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