Town councillors have agreed to borrow £100,000 to carry out major repairs to Nantwich Market Hall.
They voted to draw down the loan from the Public Works Loan Board and pay it back over five years with an additional £14,000 in interest.
The market hall roof has suffered from leaks in recent years and Nantwich Town Council says the work is essential for one of its main assets.
In a report, Town Council Clerk Samantha Roberts said the works in total would cost around £175,000.
She said: “Nantwich Market Hall is a significant and long-standing community, commercial and heritage asset within the town centre.
“It supports local traders, contributes to the vitality of the town centre and provides an important covered market facility for residents and visitors.
“During the budget-setting process for 2025/26, Members considered the council’s planned maintenance programme and discussed the need for repairs to the Market Hall roof due to ongoing water ingress.
“Members requested that a survey and further investigation be undertaken to determine the works required.
“The council previously supported the principle of progressing the roof repair project and authorised the Clerk to tender the required works, with professional support as necessary.
“The proposed borrowing is £100,000, which will part-fund the overall project.
“he balance will be met from the council’s own resources, including Market Hall earmarked reserves and Capital reserves approved by council.
“The council will only borrow the amount required. If the final tendered cost, project scope or available reserves mean that the full £100,000 is not required, the council will reduce the amount drawn down accordingly.”
But Cllr Loic Charbonneau said: “I’m not sure we are doing the right thing here.
“We have combined funds (capital reserves and general reserves) of nearly £900,000.
“We either give £14,000 to the bank in interest payments for the loan or we use our own funds and have slightly lower general reserves?
“And has anyone from the council been on the roof to look at the damage?”
But Cllr Caroline Kirkham said: “I would feel unsafe reducing our general reserves, we can’t be sure what’s going to happen in the future. I think we are going down this road to save money for taxpayers in the long run.”
Cllr Peter Groves said getting all the work done at same time rather than in separate parts would save on “very expensive” scaffolding costs.
“The cost of materials is also going through the roof, so for these reasons I’d be happy to get all the work done in one fell swoop,” he added.
Six voted in favour of applying for the £100,000 load, three against, with one abstention.
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