The fate of Hereford’s historic Town Hall is due to be decided this week – but the cost implications of the different options are still unclear.

The ornate grade II*-listed building in St Owen’s Street, owned by Herefordshire Council but leased long-term to Hereford City Council, has a costly backlog of repairs and necessary improvements.

It currently houses both Hereford City Council and some county council functions, as well as a tourist information centre and external tenants.

A report prepared for Thursday’s (September 29) Herefordshire Council cabinet meeting sets out three possibilities - though it also “invites Cabinet to propose alternative recommendations for further development and consideration”.

The options are to hand the building, and the neighbouring 10 St Owen’s Street, over to the city council by the end of October next year, and failing that, to then sell it on the open market; to put it on the market right away; or for the county council to retain and invest in the building.

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The council says it has invested £678,000 in the building since the 2015/16 financial year – that is, nearly £100,000 a year.

Selling or giving it away “could result in revenue savings” but would require new sites for the services that currently use it, including registrars, coroners and car park enforcement.

The council’s electoral services and public rights of way team have, meanwhile, recently relocated to 10 St Owen’s Street.

Neither the cost of moving these services, nor the likely future running costs of the building if retained, have yet been determined, the report says.

“It is therefore not currently possible to forecast what the potential net revenue financial implications will be if the buildings were to be retained.”

The report makes no mention of a suggestion last month by ward and city councillor Jeremy Milln to hand the building over to independent trustees with support of the local community.

Meanwhile, a separate report is expected to set out the investment required to reopen the nearby grade II-listed Shirehall, part of whose ceiling fell in two years ago.

A review commissioned by the county council concluded that this “has an identified use, subject to investment, for a court, potential council or external offices and meeting / event space” – though “due to its configuration, facilities and listing, there are few alternative uses for the building”.