COUNCIL chiefs are exploring whether to give a new lease of life to derelict Victorian music rooms in Oldham.

The Grade-II listed Werneth Park Rooms, which date back to 1850, have fallen into disrepair since they were closed decades ago.

There are no active plans to renovate the Oldham council-owned properties and they have continued to deteriorate and have also been subject to vandalism and fire damage.

A report drawn up in 2007 estimated it would cost between £2.8 million and £4.1 million to refurbish them, and the costs of repairs are expected to have increased since then.

Now the West Oldham District Executive has agreed to push ahead with a new feasibility study to investigate whether the heritage-rich buildings could be brought back into use for the public.

But a report to the district executive by co-ordinator Zaiem Khan states that "there remains no identified end use or business model for the property that could potentially support any application for external grant funding".

The council has previously undertaken two studies for the music rooms in 1996 and 2007, but neither resulted in a viable outcome for the historic building.

Mr Khan states: “The estimated cost to undertake any renovation work to the buildings is too high to obtain 100pc external funding, and the council would at some point need to assess if it is willing to invest a significant amount in renovating the Music Rooms.”

The town hall will now join up with the Architectural Heritage Fund and match fund £7,500 to qualify for a project viability grant, which will pay for a study looking at the potential use of the building.

Cllr Kaiser Rehman, who sits on the district executive, said that funding was coming from the central pot of the committee’s reserves.

He said: “They are going to try and do some soft marketing with it to investigate future usage for the public, but not necessarily run by the council. They are looking at all sorts of options.”

But the report adds that the risk of proceeding with the bid are that the ‘funding, cost, officer time, and lack of identified end use may leave us in the position where there still isn’t a viable outcome for the buildings’.

As it must be backed by a local community group that has a vested interest in the application, The Greater Manchester Building Preservation Trust have stated they would be willing to make the application.

However, a group of local people with a connection to the area will need to be identified and significantly involved.