New legislation could be used to help safeguard Skipton Town Hall and stop it being sold off quickly.

Skipton Town Council wants the district authority to implement The Localism Act (Community Right to Bid) – introduced in September 2012 – which would apply a brake on any future sale of the building and give local people a chance to buy it.

The legislation allows for a six- month moratorium on the sale or disposal of a property identified as being of “community value”.

The town council’s resolution comes in the wake of Craven District Council’s shock decision to opt out of its partnership with the Heritage Trust for the North West which was to manage the building.

And, at the annual town meeting, electors called on the town council to do everything it could to “protect the future of Skipton Town Hall as a community building”.

Dave Parker, the town council’s chief officer, said: “The listing of the town hall as an asset of community value would not restrict CDC in any way in its current proposals for the development of the building. Nor does it prevent CDC from ultimately selling the building.

“What it does do is to protect against a quick sale without giving the local community the opportunity to bid for the building.

“While there is no indication that CDC has any intention of disposing of the town hall on a commercial basis, there is an argument that, by requesting the town hall be included on the list of “Assets of Community Value” it will be protected from any short-term disposal should a change in CDC policy occur.”

Craven District Council is at present attempting to rent the building and has erected To Let signs on its facade. Skipton mayor Coun John Kerwin-Davey said: “It is our duty to do whatever we can to protect it, and this new legislation gives us an opportunity to do this.”

And chairman of the town council’s public services committee, Coun Robert Heseltine, said: “It was with great sadness that, two weeks ago, we awoke to find To Let signs nailed to the front of our town hall.

“Throughout Craven I believe that, virtually without exception, every parish has a village hall or community building. Yet Skipton, with over 25 per cent of the total population of the district, is left to the vagaries and political whims of Craven District Council as to whether it retains its town hall and associated public buildings.

“The residents and businesses of Skipton deserve better than the current slide into civic and cultural decimation. For these reasons, we at Skipton Town Council have taken this initial step to safeguard the heart and soul of our town.”

The Localism Act contains two moratorium periods – one of six weeks where a community group can submit a request to become a bidder. That triggers a six-month moratorium, which gives the group time to organise its bid and prevents the owner making a quick sale.