WORK has started on giving needy young people a home in the old Radcliffe Town Hall.

The first tenants could be in their new homes by Christmas once the £634,000 renovation scheme is completed, scheduled for November.

It finally gives the historic building a sound future after years of neglect.

The Spring Lane hall was sold for £1 last year by Bury Council to the North British Housing Association. They will use grants from the Housing Corporation to fund the revamp and creation of ten flats plus office and communal facilities.

There will also be nine car parking spaces and a landscaped garden at the back.

The building will accommodate vulnerable homeless people, in a project run in conjunction with the Bury Young Persons Housing Link.

The building was opened in 1911 but became obsolete after local government reorganisation which created the metropolitan borough of Bury in 1974. It fell into disrepair afterwards and was repeatedly vandalised.

No one in the private sector wanted to buy it, and the local authority had no money to turn the building into anything of its own.

In 1991 it even survived the threat of being demolished as part of a road improvement scheme.

The main facades of the hall on Spring Lane and Water Street will remain, but the rear is being demolished and rebuilt with roof repairs to ensure the building meets safety standards.

One question still surrounds the future of the Walker Allen stained glass window above the main entrance, but the public may have the loudest say.

Radcliffe Central councillor Kevin Scarlett said the window would be removed shortly to avoid damage during the renovation work.

"It may be replaced in the old town hall, but it could also find a permanent home elsewhere in Radcliffe, perhaps as part of an exhibition featuring a number of artefacts," he said.

"Any comments or suggestions from the public would be most welcome."

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