The agenda of the meeting of the Management Committee was altered, on Monday, July 20th, to allow the public and press to be present for a discussion of the future of the Market House; a section that they had previously been excluded from.

Ross Town Council currently own the Market House, they have a ‘Licence to Occupy’ arrangement with the Courtyard in Hereford. The Courtyard have installed the Made in Ross art collective, a group of local artists who have set up an art gallery in the space.

Last week, the Ross Gazette reported that Cllr Harry Bramer proposed that the ‘licence to occupy’ be terminated as he was worried the licence would become a lease, which would give the group more rights.

Cllr Bramer, Chairman of the Management Committee, said the debate about the Market House should not be held in private, as he understood several members of the public had attended the meeting specifically for that discussion. He argued that the discussion was in the public interest, and should therefore be open to the public.

Eleanor Kercher and Chris Champness, from the Made in Ross art collective were present at the meeting, and had come to show their disappointment that the Town Council were considering rescinding their ‘licence to occupy’ to use the Market House.

Chris Champness told the councillors that the collective had only been in the Market House for two and a half months, and she did not think this was a fair trial.

She argued that there had been many positive comments in the visitor book, and the artists “need to be given the opportunity and the time to prove [their] worth.”

Cllr Bramer told the artists that the Town Council would be forced to terminate the ‘licence to occupy’ agreement because it was the wrong contract.

For the full report, see this week’s edition of the Ross Gazette.