It seems that the main problem is that the heating oil must now be stored outside, but no suitable storage facility is available. Although the rules on the storage of the oil changed some years ago, the system at the Regal was reinstalled after the flood.
At last some Councillors are asking, who had the duty of care, and how did this get missed.
The Council is now likely to face a £16K+ bill to provide a temporary solution to get heat back into the Regal and hope that a more permanent solution can be found when (if) the Regal is redeveloped.
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And when they do eventually find out, will any heads roll? If past performance is anything to go by - very doubtful.
An opportunity presented itself in post flood reparations for a gas fired central heating boiler to be installed(which would have avoided all this hoo ha)this was suggested but voted out by the then Council.The boiler is only one issue however: the number and positioning of the existing radiators is completely inadequate and the heating has to be run full blast for hours in advance to get the place warmed up.
Mile Ender
I think the Insurance Company were pressing the Council to restore the Regal on a 'like for like' basis. There was quite a lot of problems getting them to agree to replace the two metal tanks with three plastic ones. (Even though unbunded metal tanks had been outlawed) What is surprising is that neither the insurance assessor or the heating engineer seemed to know that H&SE would not allow the fuel to be stored in the cellar. It seems that either someone failed in their duty of care, or H&SE have dreamt up this rule out of thin air.
Apparently, the Town Council is having a Confidential Meeting this evening, 18th., to discuss the heating. Why confidential, have they got something to hide that they don't want us to know about?.
The sooner they realise that they are the representatives of the town's people and not some ruling oligarchy that can take decisions in secret and then let news of these decisions seep out, the better.
Yes I agree, I think they should have met in Public. I just hope that as they are meeting in Private they have some good news that someone has admitted at least some liability.
The whole heating system is not fit for purpose (unless you have a full house and stage lighting to supplement the system). Putting the Town further in debt to install a temporary system seems like a bad idea. Some background heating would need to be installed to stop damage to the fabric of the building as the insulation is so bad, but full effort needs to be targeted at a wholesale refurbishment (and not keep deferring decisions and letting things roll on from month to month) The mural does not need £241,117.50 spent on it. That may be the quote (which cost £1237.04p!) but it is crazy money. It is not as original as the 'experts' say it is as it was repainted in the 1970's (or there abouts)
Even before this present problem the heating system in the Regal was running flat out and excessive high surface temperatures were reached at the few radiators in the building requiring the Council to place notices warning of the danger.
The Regal Cinema volunteers recently conducted an audience survey, 22% of people who responded said the heating system last winter was not, at all
times, adequate to bring the building to a comfortable temperature.
Until the Town Council make their intentions known as to how and when they propose to heat the Regal safely and to what expected temperature, The Regal Cinema Volunteers have informed the Town Council that they will not book films after the current run, which ends in the middle of October. "
At last the truth is out about the murals. The question is, "was the Town Council aware that the murals had been repainted?" If so, what was it doing allowing the consultants to run up a bill for investigating something that was already known? If it was not aware of the situation then it smacks of gross incompetence as, I believe, a former mayor or deputy mayor was personally responsible for having the repainting done in the "70s".
If anyone can narrow down the date the repainting was done, I would be interested to look at the Town Council's records for that period.
Regal Heating? We needed some this evening (31st August)! Despite rumours of global warming and climate change The Regal was pretty chilly - and it is (just) still August. From hereon take a fleece with you unless there's a dramatic change in the weather.
But there was something that was very warming this evening: despite the bad press cinema audiences have been getting lately, the behaviour of the youngsters at this evening's screening of 'Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince' was absolutely exemplary. A credit to their families and the town.
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