COUNCIL chiefs are seeking legal advice over a wrangle with builders which has delayed the opening of a £900,000 community hall.

Witney Town Council is locked in a dispute with Cheltenham-based Beam Construction Ltd over the opening of Madley Park Hall.

The Northfields Farm Lane site, off Woodstock Road, was meant to open in November as part of the Madley Park development.

However, the town council has demanded Beam replace the floor after councillors commissioned an independent report which alleged faults with the materials and fitting.

Mayor James Mills said: “The matter is now in the hands of solicitors and in order to avoid a pre-judgment and another delay further comment is not possible at this time.”

Roger Curry, chairman of the public halls committee, said: “As you can imagine, it doesn’t make me happy at all.

“We were assured by the contractor they would finish in November and It’s very disappointing that we haven’t been able to do so.”

The first residents moved to the estate in 2001 and there are now more than 1,100 homes at the site.

David Bates, chairman of Madley Park Residents’ Association, said: “It’s frustrating, but we hope the problems can be resolved soon and we can get in there and start using it.”

Work started in early 2010 and the ‘topping off’ ceremony, marking the completion of the shell, was held in July.

The floor was laid at the start of the year, but the council was unhappy with it and commissioned a survey from independent inspectors.

Their report said: “The engineering of this product is poor and this is why the floor has so many gaps in it”.

“This however does not excuse the poor fitting or lack of subfloor preparation.”

Gaps of 4mm were found between the floorboards, it said.

Beam managing director Stephen Ratcliffe said the firm had not been given the report.

He said: “If there were any issues with the floor we would ensure it complies with the rele-vant standards, but we have not been advised formally of any flaws with the floor.”

He added: “In our opinion the building is practically complete.”

He said the firm did not lay the floor when it received the materials at the end of October because “it did not meet the standards we wanted and we asked for,” he said.