Nub News last week announced to Penarth the considerable changes coming to the Pier Pavilion and its management.

The charity Penarth Arts & Crafts Ltd (PACL) surrendered its 125-year lease of the asset after a period of financial troubles and board resignations.

It will now return to the hands of the Vale of Glamorgan Council, who vow to ensure the iconic building is "retained for community use".

They have also assured that existing bookings - such as weddings organised prior to the pandemic - will be honoured.

Some residents expressed sadness upon hearing the Waterloo Tea cafe will not reopen when restrictions allow.

While the pandemic did serve as a catalyst for PACL's demise, it has emerged that the writing was on the wall for the charity as early as 2018.

We spoke with a PACL spokesperson to shed some light on what went wrong.

He cites a lack of public funding and the absence of people experienced in managing an arts facility high among the contributing factors.

"Following an extended period of financial challenges, PACL took the initiative to approach the Council in late 2020," the spokesperson explained.

"This followed numerous resignations, over the two years since 2018, from the board of PACL, including two chairs and a councillor nominated by the Vale of Glamorgan Council.

"As a consequence of these actions, the board was left inquorate."

Inquorate refers to the state of being unable to continue operating because not enough members are present to make proceedings valid.

"The two remaining directors, who are unpaid volunteers, have attempted to fix the situation," he continued.

"A commercial proposal was explored but deemed not to be appropriate as it could not be guaranteed it would align with PACL's mission.

"It also became apparent the Vale of Glamorgan Council, as the owner of the freehold of the building and the two lottery organisations felt the building should revert to the Council.

"The directors of PACL have worked tirelessly with officers of all three organisations to make this a reality."

Some have suggested that the Vale's decision to award PACL the 125-year lease back in 2013 was always destined to fail.

We asked the spokesperson whether the charity was ever qualified to operate a venue of this kind.

"The PACL Board's initial priority was to manage and provide oversight of the £4.2 million refurbishment as an arts facility. The composition of the voluntary membership of the Board reflected this," he replied.

"Following the opening it might have been wise to ensure the involvement of people with experience of managing an arts facility.

"What became increasingly apparent was whether any model of this type could be sustained in the absence of an ongoing commitment of public funds to support operational expenditure."

The spokesperson's statement ended by urging the Vale of Glamorgan Council to learn from PACL's demise.

"The future of the Pavilion is now entirely in the hands of the Vale Council which will have to decide how it will confront the structural issue of running the building for the benefit of the local community in a way that is consistent with its original mission."

Further details regarding how the Vale Council intend to run the asset will emerge over the coming weeks.