THE future of the historic Milton Rooms and Assembly Rooms in Malton will be one of the biggest decisions for the new district council after the elections in May, members have heard.

At a meeting of the council’s policy and resources committee on Thursday, members were presented with the latest capital spending report - and heard that efforts to secure grant money for the Milton Rooms had failed.

The authority has a responsibility to upkeep the Milton Rooms as part of its long-term lease. The report listed £476,000 set aside for the building; partly the ongoing maintenance allocation, and part of it as a provision for match funding, which was not successful.

Parts of the building have seen recent cosmetic improvements, but Cllr Lindsay Burr said: “I’m quite concerned - I don’t think we’ve spent enough on the Milton Rooms to date. There’s many things that need doing and it’s our responsibility.”

Cllr Luke Ives, committee chairman, said he noted her point about underinvestment, but said: “One of the key ways to tackle that was securing the funding through the Big Lottery Fund - that, with deep regret, was not successful.

“So now we’re at a juncture where we need to decide the way forward.”

Cllr Linda Cowling said: “The fate of the Milton Rooms will be one of the biggest decisions the new council will have to make. We have to deal with it. We’ve been grappling with it for many many years.

“This latest failure to get grant funding was really disappointing because it would’ve meant the Milton Rooms would have become something of benefit to the whole of Ryedale.

“We could spend nearly everything we have as a council in our reserves in putting the Milton Rooms right. It’s a massive place. Parts of it are semi-derelict. It’s on different levels, it’s like a rabbit warren.”