SPIRALLING charges for Tavistock?s Listed Victorian town hall this week came under fire from local groups and West Devon?s MP, who say the building is being priced out of affordability.

Tavistock Group of Artists has been using the town hall for its annual exhibition for more than 40 years. But the group this week claimed rising hire fees were forcing them them to consider other accommodation for an event which brings thousands of visitors into the town.

They say more than 3,000 people visited their summer exhibition in each of the last two years. They claim the town council, which owns the town hall, should think about the fringe benefits of holding this type of event in Tavistock.

Dr Ann Stirland, group secretary, said: ?The fees have gone up by 16 to 17% every year for the past four years and there?s been no visible improvement for this.

?We make sales, that?s the only way we manage to rent the town hall, but with rents going up each year, sales are not going to carry on covering the costs of it.

?Originally the exhibition was held for three weeks. We?ve now cut back to nine days because of the cost ? the next thing we face is cutting back to five days.?

Dr Stirland said the group was using Tavistock Parish Centre for its pre-Christmas exhibition. If this is successful, they would consider using it, or any suitable alternative they could find, in preference to the town hall.

?They (the council) are cutting off their noses to spite their faces ? it?s ludicrous. The Duke of Bedford built that hall for the people of the town, but they can?t afford to use it, it?s appalling,? she said.

Dr Stirland said Tavistock Group of Artists was the only community group using the hall for any significant amount of time ? she believed other groups now shun the building, put off by high rentals. Only commercial enterprises could afford it, she said.

West Devon and Torridge MP John Burnett has written to the council to complain about its pricing policies.

He said the building was originally constructed for the benefit of organisations of the town.

?This should be paramount to councillors,? said Mr Burnett.

?The council?s pricing policy has achieved the invidious consequence of ensuring that less and less money is earned from the use of the hall, because fewer and fewer groups and individuals can afford to use it.?

Mr Burnett urged the council to reconsider the pricing policy and ?order their priorities in line with the objects of their trusteeship?.

Peter Jones, musical director of Stannary Brass Band, said: ?We use the town hall, but we are sponsored by Fulfords ? they pick up the cost of the hall for our summer concert. We probably wouldn?t use it if we didn?t have the sponsorship ? we would have to think very hard about it.?

Mr Jones is also a town councillor and chairman of the council?s finance committee. He said he personally believed the town hall hire rates were ?too expensive?.

?We need to find a way to reduce the cost, especially for the local community,? said Mr Jones.

He said the burden of maintaining the town hall cost the tax payer every day, whether it was used or not. The problem was trying to balance the budget in the most effective way.

?It?s ridiculous to have such an asset in the middle of the town that is under-used and costing the town money,? he admitted.

Town clerk Roger Howard confirmed he had received Mr Burnett?s letter, though he said Tavistock Group of Artists has not been in contact with the council about the town hall hire fees.

He said: ?Council policy is to charge the rates they set year by year, which I believe are remarkably low for what people get.

?The town hall costs us £11 every hour, every day of every week ? it?s a matter of balancing how that is paid for.?

He said Mr Burnett?s letter was being circulated to members of the council.