Popular ballroom dances which date back to 1972 are vital to the future of Pudsey Civic Hall, a council report has said.
Council chiefs have agreed to pay a five-figure sum to ballroom dance DJ Stuart Jenner to continue to provide the service at both Pudsey Civic Hall and Morley Town Hall.
Mr Jenner has been resident at Pudsey Civic Hall in Leeds and other Leeds City Council run venues for about 25 years.
A council report says:
“These are popular and are revenue generating for Leeds City Council. If we were to lose these it would be detrimental to Pudsey Civic Hall’s revenue and affect its ability to achieve its budget and therefore could affect the future of Pudsey Civic Hall.
“If there had been no dances in place last year Pudsey Civic Hall’s income stream would have been reduced by £22,600 and therefore would have missed their budget target”
Ballroom Dances are held at Pudsey Civic Hall every Monday, Thursday and every other Saturday and at Morley Town Hall every Tuesday throughout the year.
The council has waived the usual requirement for a full tender when services cost more than £10,000. It has instead requested three quotes, the cheapest of which was Mr Jenner.
In previous years the outlay for this service across Pudsey and Morley has been approximately £20,000, with Mr Jenner running and preparing the events himself.
Ballroom dancing dates back to Pudsey Civic Hall’s opening in 1972.
The report can be read in full here.