The town council may have voted publicly to sell off its cash-gobbling Guildhall headquarters but secretly most of the councillors really want to keep it, it has been claimed.

The sell-off decision was made last August by a narrow margin.

But since then the town council has been unable to come up with another town hall to move into.

And the council has almost been laughed out of court when it comes to finding a developer willing to take the rambling old Victoria building on.

Now the town council's corporate property committee chairman Cllr Robin Springett has admitted: 'While the council agreed to obtain planning permission to sell the Guildhall, there is not the will in this council to push ahead with it.'

And Cllr Dave Cawley added: 'There is no will because secretly some of us – a lot of us – nearly all of us – don't want to sell it.'

The latest suggestion is to sell off just the town council admin offices next to the Guildhall and convert the building's Clifton Room into new offices.

At the same time, a report from Cllr Springett stated: 'It is also suggested that a plan for the complete refurbishment of the Guildhall be considered with new heating, wiring and plumbing and furthermore with a possible rebuilding of the rear of the building to provide better use of the space.'

Cllr Springett also revealed that the search for a new town hall base for the council had so far proved 'fruitless' and the council had not found anyone even interested in developing the Guildhall.

'We have been told that in the present market you have got to be kidding or words to that effect,' he said.

Now the councillors are recommending that the council goes back to looking at a whole range of options which include getting a valuation on the admin offices, finding out the cost of converting the Clifton Room, continuing to look for a replacement council chamber and also looking at the cost of a complete Guildhall refurbishment.

Finance committee chairman Cllr Francis Hawke said the council had to continue looking for a new council base.

'We have to look at the alternatives before we spend a lot of money on this building that quite honestly we cannot afford to do,' he said.

The council has been flirting with selling off the Victoria Road Guildhall for decades. Last August it looked like it had finally come to a final decision, as councillors were told it was costing local taxpayers more than £40,000 a year.

Since then the council has looked at moving into premises in the Butterwalk and the market and rejected them both.

Committee vice chairman Rob Lyon said: 'I think we need to put a lot more effort into investigating all the options so that we can come to a judgement.'