WHITCHURCH Town Council has found its new temporary home while the future of the Civic Centre is still decided – a former police station.

Whitchurch mayor Councillor Andy Hall with its proper officer Mike McDonald, along with Cllr Rose Hall, met with Keith Chase and his wife Sheila – a former Citizen of the Year – on Tuesday to officially receive the keys to the Station Road building.

It has been closed since 2018 but now a ‘town hall and community hub’ will breathe new life back into the building for Whitchurch Town Council and groups that met at the Civic Centre.

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Cllr Hall said “We are grateful for the generosity of local businessmen, Keith and Graham Chase of Chase Enterprises, for the opportunity to ensure a future for this wonderful building and provide a home for the activities of many community groups.

“It has been of paramount importance that we found premises capable of offering appropriate facilities to the community and we have plans to develop the site for additional community benefit in the forthcoming years.”

Mr McDonald, also a former mayor, said: “We hope to welcome back many of the community groups who were displaced following the enforced closure of the Civic Centre, and those who have endured within the Sports/Market Hall.

“But we also hope to attract new groups to the hub and have also been in contact with a number of potential partners who could benefit from a shared space in an easily accessible location.

“These conversations have been very encouraging so far – we had hoped that DVSA would be one of those partners, but sadly they had other plans.

“Naturally, we have also approached Shropshire Council with an offer to house a temporary library solution and we are waiting for them to assess their options.”

The council is expected to begin working from there in March while April is a probable target for the groups, and both men thanked the community for its patience.

They said: “We fully appreciate the difficulties the Civic Centre closure has caused for many people, not least our own staff and all the uncertainty that the situation has brought with it.

“This has been out of our control, but now we hope to bring some stability back to our services and community offering.”

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Mr Chase said: “When we heard about the closure of Whitchurch Civic Centre, we were concerned that services previously offered by the town council may be lost for some time.

“Keen that this shouldn’t happen, we met to discuss this as a temporary home for their operations alongside space to provide accommodation for many of the groups which previously used the Civic Centre.

“It has been a pleasure to work with the town council to adapt our building, under a short term lease, to help provide both office and community spaces, whilst the future of the Civic Centre is decided.”