Whitchurch Civic Centre should be either repaired or replaced, the public has said after a consultation into the future of the crisis-hit building.

More than 1,130 responses to the consultation offering six choices for the Raac-ridden building in High Street at around 10 per cent of the population.

The centre is currently closed – except for the sports/market hall – after specialist engineers found dangerous reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete across the majority of the Civic Centre complex, and that it has major structural issues.

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In the consultation – that ran from April 30 to June 11, 2024 – people were asked which of six possible options they preferred  to enable these options to be narrowed down.

They were also asked about their usage of the Civic Centre in the past and at present, and which facilities and services they think should be available in the future.

As a result of the consultation a working group set up to consider the future of the building will now carry out a feasibility study into the two most popular options – to either repair or replace the centre, before presenting a business case to Shropshire Council’s Cabinet.

The working group is made up of local Shropshire Councillors, Whitchurch town councillors, and officers from both.

Paul Wynn, Shropshire Councillor for Prees, and chairman of the working group said: “We know the importance of the Civic Centre to Whitchurch and to people who live in and around the town.

“We launched this consultation as we really wanted to hear people’s views about the future of the building, and about how they use – or have used – the building.

“I want to thank everyone who took the time to complete the survey. We had an incredible response that shows that the Civic Centre is clearly a vital and well-used feature of the town, both by residents of the town and nearby villages.

“And, from the results it was very clear that people’s preference is to either repair or replace the Centre.

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“Officers will now carry out further work to determine the feasibility and costs of these two options, and we hope to provide a further update in September.”

The consultation report is set to be published later this month.

The six options put forward for consideration, and the order in which respondents ranked them, were replacement of structural roof and associated essential items; Raac to remain in place and mitigated through internal structural framework, repairs to spalled concrete and full replacement of roof membranes.

Then came demolish and rebuild as existing facilities provision; demolition and redevelopment of the site, while other demolition options ranked lowly.