DIDCOT’S Civic Hall is set to have a £1.3m facelift at taxpayers’ expense.

On Monday, town councillors voted to back plans which will see the creation of a new entrance block facing Broadway and improvements to the existing building.

They decided to back the most expensive of three options presented by architects Sutton Griffin.

The chosen design would see a new landscaped garden and a southern extension which would house meeting rooms and make the hall more visible from the road.

Building work could start next year, and take up to 12 months.

Architect Patrick Griffin warned £1.3m was only a “ballpark figure”. He said: “At this stage there’s always going to be a finger in the air, because there’s not all the information available.”

Although the council will seek grants to help pay for the work, it is likely it will have to get a loan in excess of the normal £500,000 cap on parish and town council borrowing.

Figures presented to the finance and general purposes committee showed a £1.33m loan would cost the council £86,079.54 a year for 25 years, putting £10.48 on an average annual council tax bill in the town. The construction of the existing hall in the 1970s was also paid for with a 25-year loan.

Council leader Bill Service said: “Traditionally, civic halls don’t make money. It offers a feel-good factor.

“The question is whether that feel-good factor and the good things that come out of a civic hall will outweigh and persuade people of the town that we are going to make a decision that is going to put the town council in hock for 25 years.”