COUNCILLORS want to hold a public meeting to discuss the future of Didcot Civic Hall.

Simon Hewerdine and Neville Harris, the two independent councillors on Didcot Town Council, are calling for a full-town meeting to be held to discuss the problems with managing the building.

The council wants to bring the running of the charity in-house after it was found the way it was being run was 'untenable'.

There are fears the council could owe thousands of pounds in VAT and business rates due to it being unclear how independent the management of the hall was from the council in the past.

Mr Hewerdine wants to open up decision-making on the future of the building to all of the town's residents.

He said: "We are determined that this civic treasure is run as the residents of the town deserve it to be."

A date for the meeting has not yet been set.

At the same time, the council has rejected plans to bring in a private company to fine people using the civic hall's car park for free.

People who park in the facility for reasons other than attending the hall or on town council business would have been issued with a penalty unless they had a permit under the plan which was rejected.

A private company offered to take on the administration of the scheme and install equipment for free - if they could keep the revenue from the fines.

It comes after several people complained about finding it hard to get a parking space when attending the civic hall because of the amount of people using the car park for other reasons.