But Maitland City Council would not say how many groups would be affected or which groups they were.

A council report, tabled at Tuesday’s meeting, noted that renovations to the town hall were still taking place. Work had been scheduled to be finished in October.

In the report, council’s senior project architect Ben Griffin noted that resourcing issues for contractor, Kingston Building, ongoing structural steel fabrication and installation and long procurement times for items such as the electrical switch board and stage front screen had caused the delay.

“Kingston Building is aiming to meet an early December completion date, however given the potential impact on pre-Christmas bookings council has arranged for alternate venues for the December, 2015, hirers,” Mr Griffin noted. 

“The progress of the works will be closely monitored and if there are any doubts as to the availability of the town hall in January, 2016, alternate venues for the two events booked will be arranged.”

The Mercury asked council which user groups would have to have their events relocated because of the ongoing renovations.

But a council spokesman said he was not able to provide details of the groups that would be affected.

Improvements to the hall include upgrades to the stage house, new side lighting, installation of blackout curtains, new audio-visual equipment, replacement of the stage rigging, construction of a new sound lock, acoustic wall treatments, air conditioning modifications, upgrades to the sprung floor and a general repaint of interior of the auditorium.

Work on the heritage listed hall, which was built in 1890, is being funded by a grant from the Hunter Infrastructure and Investment Fund worth $2 million.