Shopping centre works to cost council £200k

The Wilko signage is still in place at the 17,000-sq-ft Maylord Orchards branch

More than £200,000 is being spent on damp-proofing part of a city’s shopping centre.

The Maylord Orchards’ owner Herefordshire Council said the contract was to cover work at the Hereford centre’s former Shopmobility unit which if not done could result in higher costs in the future.

The council also said that for more than a year it had made no money from the closed Wilko shop, previously the centre’s largest until the homeware retailer went into administration in 2023.

The 17,000-sq-ft branch remained vacant with the Wilko signage still in place.

The process of winding up the company was now set to finish in the next six months, the council said.

The previous tenant was responsible for ongoing costs such as business rates but the authority was trying to find a new tenant for the future, a spokesperson added.

The shopping centre was bought by the council's previous administration for more than £4m in 2020, with part of it at the time earmarked for a new library and learning centre for the city.

But the new Conservative-led administration switched those planned sites to the city’s Shire Hall, where conversion work is under way.

This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service which covers councils and other public service organisations.