Settle Town Hall is to be put up for sale.

Craven District Council, owners of the grade two listed building, which is in need of essential repair work, will also look for alternative venues for its customer services, Contact Craven, and Settle Tourist Information Centre (TIC) – both currently sited in the town hall.

At last week’s policy committee meeting, councillors were advised to put the hall on the open market rather than offer it to a charitable lease – as the council is currently doing with Skipton Town Hall, which is also in need of modernisation.

In a report to the committee, councillors were told the Settle hall cost the council about £38,000 per year to run and in addition a substantial amount of money was needed money for repairs.

Structural and decoration work needed to be done to improve its appearance and make it a more attractive venue for potential users. There was also a need to improve access to the building.

The report added: “The current layout of the building is fragmented, which makes it difficult to get the best usage out of the building as a whole, impacting on revenue opportunities.”

Councillors were given several options to consider, including doing nothing and continuing to be responsible for the building, dividing it into units and letting them off, or letting the whole building to one commercial operator.

Also considered – and rejected – was transferring the building to a trust on a long lease, while retaining the TIC in the building. The meeting heard, by doing nothing, the building would continue to deteriorate and could lead to it failing to comply with safety legislation.

“Areas could become unusable and cordoned off, which is aesthetically displeasing to visitors. In addition, there are already difficulties in letting vacant units within the building, partly due to the condition and accessibility,” the report said.

A reconfiguration of the building to let it as separate units was estimated to cost the council up to £2 million, with running costs also increasing.

Councillors were told selling the building on the open market ran the risk that it could end up not in public use, but that the council could specify uses.

After the meeting, council leader, Councillor Chris Knowles-Fitton (Cons) said: “The financial pressures we face make it impossible to maintain Settle Town Hall to an acceptable standard.

“Nevertheless, we cannot allow this historic building to collapse around our ears and the best way of securing its future is to put it up for sale.”

The council said the town hall would continue to operate as usual in the meantime.