Future of Shirehall will be 're-examined' by Shropshire Council amid campaigners call for return

Shropshire Council officially moved out of its ageing Shirehall building on Abbey Foregate in March this year, shifting local authority operations across Shrewsbury to the Guildhall.

The council eventually plans to move to a new "multi-agency hub" building, set to be built as part of the new Riverside regeneration project in the town.

But after sweeping to power in May, the council's new Liberal Democrat administration says it's taking a fresh look at the plans - although it insists it still intends to decommission Shirehall this year.

"As I mentioned at last week’s Cabinet meeting, the future of Shirehall and the site is, together with many others, being re-examined," said Roger Evans,  Shropshire Council’s Cabinet member with responsibility for assets.

"Our move out of the Shirehall is taking longer than I had expected due the process already in place. At present the plans are to move out of Shirehall, with the decommissioning of the building to be completed this calendar year.

"As a new administration, we want and need to better understand the condition of the building and our potential options before making any further comment."

The previous Conservative administration said Shirehall was costing £1.3 million a year to run and needed "significant investment" of around £30m to meet modern standards. 

But campaigners working to save the 1960's "modernist icon" building have dismissed those figures, and says the planned new hub building could end up costing as much as £79m with interest - adding £23 to every council tax bill in the county for 25 years.

The Save Our Shirehall group has called on Shropshire Council's new administration to rethink potential plans to redevelop the site, saying it could be refurbished and brought back into use for a fraction of the cost quoted by the previous administration.

Last week, it was revealed that two organisations are still working from the council's former base, having let office space in the building from the local authority.

A freedom of information request revealed that the authority was generating around £350,000 per year in rental income from other agencies working in the building prior to the pandemic.

"The Shirehall today continues to function successfully in the numerous ways for which it was conceived, designed and built," said John Crowe from the Save Our Shirehall campaign group.

"The new Shropshire Council should have the opportunity to re-consider the inherited plan for the council owned estate from the previous administration.

"The Shirehall today stands as a very visible discredit to the lack of care the previous council took of its base. It is an embarrassment to the civic pride many hold for our County. The above is a strong case that the Conservative council 'has got it wrong' which voters may have reflected this May."

Potential options for the future of the Shirehall site remain a closely guarded secret, with all meetings relating to the building currently taking place behind closed doors due to what the council describes as commercial sensitivity.

However heritage campaigners fear the site could be sold off to developers as the authority seeks to close a £53 million funding gap over the next twelve months.

Instead, the group is calling on the authority to rethink borrowing plans to fund the new multi-agency hub and instead spend "modest" amounts refurbishing the current building ready for re-occupation.

"The Council owns around 12 sites within Shrewsbury town, many housing Council services, which could be re-situated in the Shirehall, thereby freeing those sites for alternative uses or re-development," added Mr Crowe.

"The Shirehall is the iconic and intelligently designed, flexible civic municipal centre for the people of Shropshire for its elected Council for its staff and for other tenants. If lost it is unlikely Shropshire will again have such a striking civic centre."