Miller: give me town hall and I’ll drop damages claim

Youth club plan by kitchen boss

CONTROVERSIAL kitchens boss Vance Miller wants Oldham Council to give him the dilapidated town hall as compensation for a bungled fraud trial.

He said he would turn the historic Grade II listed building, which dates back to 1841, into a youth club to benefit the borough.

The council’s investigation into Mr Miller and a 17-week trial was sensationally thrown out of court after Judge Jonathan Foster QC said it was “misconceived from the start” and “an abuse of the process of the court”.

He has ruled that the council will have to foot the bill — estimated at £5 million.

Mr Miller has stated he will sue the council for damaging his business and reputation — but is now willing to drop any legal action if the authority hands over the crumbling building, which has been left to decay since 1995.

His interest was sparked by an Evening Chronicle story that revealed an audit of the council’s portfolio of buildings and land, which includes assets worth £106 million that are not currently being used, is being undertaken to determine which should be retained, decommissioned, demolished or sold.

Mr Miller said: “I would be most interested in making use of such buildings with a view to creating some sort of leisure facility or activities for young people so much that I would even consider not seeking any further recompense from Oldham Council in relation to their recent failed case against me in exchange for a building and funding to complete such a community project.

“I would love nothing more than for the drinking/violence problems in Oldham to be reduced as a result of the council tackling the cause, i.e boredom and a lack of interests, as opposed to seeking a cure.”

He is now believed to have set his sights on Oldham Town Hall — which the council vacated in 1978 to move to the Civic Centre before it became a Crown Court for a few years and was then abandoned.

The property has been listed as endangered by the Victorian Society. Plaster ceilings in the building are falling down, water is running down he walls, wet and dry rot has taken hold, floors are dangerous, leaded windows are broken and there are huge cracks in the ceilings. It could cost millions to repair.

A council spokesman said: “Assets cannot simply be given away without there being a significant commercial or well-being justification.”