Shropshire Council HQ sale to fund shopping centre revamp

Shropshire Council hopes to make £10m from selling its Shirehall headquarters

A council headquarters could be sold off to help fund the redevelopment of a shopping centre, which could also become its new home.

Shropshire Council aims to vacate its Shirehall premises in Shrewsbury by 2023 and raise £10m from the sale.

The money would be used to redevelop Pride Hill shopping centre, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

The town centre building will be overhauled to become a leisure complex, with space for council offices too.

Shropshire Council bought the town's three main shopping centres for £51m in 2018, but has since seen the value of them drop.

The Pride Hill shopping centre will be redeveloped to become a leisure complex

The Pride Hill centre's lower levels could be turned into a "cultural and civic hub", under the plans, but the upper level, nearest the town's main shopping areas would be mostly commercial, with possibly a cinema, bowling alley and restaurant.

"We are keen that it does draw people into the town particularly for the evening economy," Council Leader Peter Nutting said.

"We do see it as a real change of direction."

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The cost of the redevelopment is projected to be about £16m, according to the Marches Local Enterprise Partnership, which the council expects to make up through the sale of Shirehall and a £5m grant from the government's post-coronavirus Getting Building Fund.

Retailers currently based in Pride Hill are being asked to relocate to the Darwin Centre.

Meanwhile, Mr Nutting said the local authority was in discussion with various parties about the future of the current council house.

The council has applied for "immunity from listing" from Historic England, to protect it from being given listed status and Mr Nutting said he would prefer the site to be cleared for housing.