‘It’s not possible, we have no money’ – Shropshire presses on with Shirehall sell off
Shropshire Council has again ruled out the possibility of saving its crumbling 1960’s headquarters, as the authority navigates an ongoing cash crisis.
Shirehall, once described as the major monument to postwar modernism in Shropshire by Pevsner’s guide, took a step closer to demolition after the council’s cabinet voted to push on with plans to sell the site for redevelopment – following years of debate over the future of the building.
Shropshire Council moved out of Shirehall in 2024, arguing that it was too large for the needs of a modern local authority, and outlined plans to sell-off the site for a potential redevelopment.
But the ejection of the previous Conservative administration at 2025’s local elections gave fresh hope to campaigners working to save the building, with the incoming Liberal Democrat group announcing a pause while it considered options for the future of the building.
Now, after just over six months of navel gazing, the new administration looks set to flog the building “as is” – with its hand forced by a dire financial situation that saw it adopt an emergency plan last year in order to avoid effective bankruptcy.
Shirehall in Shrewsbury is set to make way for a mixed-use redevelopment scheme. Credit: Place Midlands
The council received emergency financial support of almost £200m from MCHLG to help it balance its books for the current year, but is facing an estimated £130m budget gap for 2027/28. Shropshire Council says the government is now scrutinising “everything it spends” in order to get value for money on the loans.
“It is not possible [to develop the building], the council has no money,” Shropshire Council’s finance chief, Cllr Roger Evans, told an emergency cabinet meeting this morning.
“We are borrowing many millions of pounds in order to operate this council. It’s not possible to start spending money on the Shirehall with no end use in view, and there isn’t one at present.”
A report produced at the beginning of the month containing a range of options, recommended the council proceed with a plan to sell the site without demolishing Shirehall, bringing the ten-acre site to market with the minimum of restrictions on future uses.
The authority says that would leave a clean slate of possibilities for a future developer, with the most likely outcome thought to be a residential-led scheme. A sales prospectus will now be drawn up to market the site, expected to be approved in the autumn.
“We will see what comes forward in answer to the prospectus which is being created, and will come before the cabinet later on this year,” added Cllr Evans.
“There are no red lines as to what happens to the site… It will be a general prospectus as necessary for those who many want to purchase the site to make that decision. We do not want to hem them in to any previous decisions.”
