'Our Shirehall's not past it yet!' Campaigners renew call for council to return to abandoned Shrewsbury headquarters
Campaigners have renewed their call for Shropshire Council to return to its abandoned Shrewsbury Shirehall headquarters.
The Save Our Shirehall (SOS) group has been behind a long-running campaign for the Abbey Foregate building to be retained as the council's headquarters.
The campaign was started against the backdrop of plans to vacate the building from the council's former Conservative administration.
The move was formally taken last year, with the council's Shrewsbury headquarters officially moved to the Guildhall in Frankwell in February.
Now SOS say they want to challenge 'naysayers' over the viability of the council's former home saying they believe it is "sound in body and limb".
Jane Gallacher of SOS said: "We're hearing various, unsubstantiated voices that our Shropshire Shirehall is 'past it'. Well it's not, and SOS has just issued a briefing that contests these alleged 'deficiencies' that we've heard, to each of our new Shropshire councillors."
The group said that since the May council elections, when the Liberal Democrat group took control of the authority for the first time, its campaign team has been meeting with the new administration, along with the leaders of the other political groups on the council, and councillors.
SOS founder member Sally Stote said: "We've heard comments about supposed failures of the Shirehall: 'It's got asbestos' and 'its concrete is failing' and 'it's too hot or too cold' and we've shown these to be false alarms or overblown."
SOS's John Crowe added: "Sure, the Shirehall has asbestos - and so have around 170 Shropshire schools, which are inspected annually and conditions reported. Asbestos is no problem, unless disturbed.
"The Shirehall's concrete structure is sound; if there was any problem with the concrete then the council's own 'property services division' would have reported it. In fact, the archive department of the council is based there today and the full council met in the council chamber in February."
Ms Gallagher added: "We want councillors to consider our latest briefing on each of these various myths so that our Shirehall remains a viable option for the future home of Shropshire Council and Shropshire people, as its light, bright and spacious work space, as it has been successfully for nearly 60 years."
In response to the claims, Shropshire Council's Lib Dem portfolio holder for finance, Councillor Roger Evans, said that the administration is reviewing the entirety of the Shirehall site.
He also highlighted the previous administration's decision to make the site and its buildings surplus to requirements.
He said: "The new administration is at present carrying out a review of the whole of the Shirehall site.
"The decision made previously by council is that the site and buildings are surplus to requirements.
"This decision has meant that numbers of staff needed to move to other locations, including the Guildhall, to reduce costs."
