Listed pumping station works risk group's future

The Shrewsbury Steam Trust is run by volunteers

Volunteers that run a Shropshire heritage site have said its future is at risk as a leaning chimney makes it impossible for it to open to visitors.

Shrewsbury Steam Trust is based in the Grade II listed Coleham Pumping Station.

When the 25m-high (82ft) chimney was found to be leaning, the group were told they could not open to the public.

However without the income from open days, the trust believes it may not be able to continue.

The pumping station is closed to the public until the leaning chimney is repaired

"We will need money or we will not exist," said volunteer Ron Targett. "We could potentially run out of money."

The building is owned by Shropshire Council and is run by the museums service, while much of the equipment inside, including beam engines, belongs to Shrewsbury Steam Trust.

After the chimney's lean was reported, Shropshire Council told the trust it could not open to visitors until an engineer had reviewed the site and repairs had been carried out.

The trust had planned an open day in June and another in September, but said it did not expect to be able to open before next year, due to the work.

"Each open day we're not open, we're losing out on the money we use to pay for our insurance to be here," said the charity's treasurer, Noel Foley.

"There's £2,000 each year we have to find, which now we don't have any way of doing that."

A measuring device is monitoring any movement in the chimney

The pumping station opened in 1901, using two steam engines to pump sewage away from homes as part of the town's new system.

Until the money is found, Mr Targett said the charity was "very much up in the air".

"It's frustrating," added Mr Foley. "We hope [the council] get around to it as soon as possible."

Shropshire Council said structural engineers had assessed the chimney and found it was moving, but there was no evidence of imminent danger.

It said specialists would determine any action and meanwhile no machinery would be operated there, with weekly inspections of the chimney planned.