A £5m bid for Lottery funding is being prepared as part of moves to reopen the Corn Exchange in Witney.

The town council has asked an unnamed charity to apply for a Heritage Lottery Fund grant on its behalf.

As a public body, the council is not eligible to bid for some grants, so it is bringing in help to apply for the money on its behalf.

The decision was made at a special meeting of the public halls committee on Monday.

Like two other council meetings in the past three weeks, the committee was due to meet behind closed doors, but at the last minute councillors decided to allow the public to attend.

But councillors were asked not to name the charity, because officers deemed it “commercially sensitive”.

Toby Morris, the chairman of the committee, said: “We’re looking at the Heritage Lottery Fund to try to get a grant.

“There are funding streams that are available to us and there are those that are not necessarily open to a council as a public body.”

He said the council hoped to raise “as much as possible” to restore the Corn Exchange, adding: “The amount we are trying to ask for is about £5m.”

He said it was hoped the project would be completed in 2015, four years after the building was closed due to safety problems.

Councillors said that they had changed their mind about holding the meeting in private after a report in last week’s Witney Gazette about other recent meetings held behind closed doors.

Mr Morris added: “When we set up the committee, I said it was going to be open, but I’m mindful that there are times when you have to go into closed session.

“After the Witney Gazette coverage last week, I thought that we would be able to conduct the business without going into a closed session fully, but reminding members that if they were going to talk about confidential details, we would have to do so.

“I was responding to the comments and feelings of the town, as expressed in the Witney Gazette.”

Meetings to consider a report on development of sports facilities last week and the possible sale of the Langdale Hall to fund work on the Corn Exchange the previous week were both held behind closed doors.

Resident Owen Edwards, addressing the committee on Monday, said: “All too often at meetings of this council and its committees, members of the public and the press are excluded.

“This gives the impression of secrecy and shady dealings.”

He called for full agendas to be posted on the council website. At present, the front sheets of agendas are posted, but not any related documents.

Mr Edwards added: “You have public participation on almost every meeting agenda, allowing the public to speak about an item on the agenda. However, you do not publish the papers giving the information to be discussed.”

  • The council held a special finance and general purposes meeting to discuss confidential staffing matters, including salaries, behind closed doors on Monday.