Hereford has a year to secure the future of its landmark Town Hall, or it will be sold of the open market.

Ownership of the building should pass from the county to its main current tenant Hereford City Council, “or its appointee”, a meeting of the county council’s cabinet decided last week.

The decision commits the two parties to agreeing terms by the end of this year, with a deadline of October next year to transfer ownership of the grade II* listed building and neighbouring 10 St Owen’s Street.

Should these deadlines not be met, the county council will try to sell it on the open market.

Coun Jeremy Milln, who sits on the city council and also represents its central ward on the county council, said: “While I am an elected member, I will do my damnest to ensure the Town Hall’s future is secure for the people of Hereford, and that we do not sell the family silver to the highest bidder, as so many local authorities have done with their assets.”

But he admitted: “It will need a lot of money to bring it into a usable state, while making it as close as we can to being carbon-neutral, so it doesn’t leak heat as it does at the moment.”

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He welcomed the decision to allow the city council to nominate a separate body to take ownership.

“As a parish-level authority we have a low precept [i.e. revenue] and we don't need the whole building,” he said. “It should have a mix of uses, and be welcoming to Herefordians and visitors in perpetuity.”

The city council is looking at forming a charitable trust which would have the flexibility to raise funds, make best use of it within its listed status, and as Coun Milln said, “insulate it from the vicissitudes of politics”.

He said the 12-month timescale to conclude the transfer was “ambitious but not impossible”.

But any future owner will have to contend with a sizeable backlog of repairs to the building, put by an earlier survey as between four and six million pounds’ worth, “depending on how far you take it”, Coun Milln said, adding that emergency repairs merely to keep out the rain are about to begin.

He submitted a question to the cabinet meeting asking how £678,000 spent on contractors over the past seven years had been spent.

“It lists eight contractors on the boiler alone,” he pointed out. “It’s a bit like asking how many people you need to change a lightbulb.”

Having considered the answer inadequate, he “asked the same question again”, for which he is awaiting a written reply from the county council.

“Until we get a proper breakdown, we can’t determine our next steps as a trust,” he said. “A lot of research is needed.”

Cabinet member for assets Coun Gemma Davies told the cabinet meeting: “The next few months are about supporting the city council in whatever avenue they want to go down – heritage trust, CIC (community interest company), etc.

“But both county and city councils are under the same pressures.”

The future of the county council-owned Shirehall on the other side of St Owen’s Street, which also faces a backlog of repairs, “is a question for another day”, she added.

But Conservative group leader Coun Jonathan Lester said the decision on whether or not to sell the Town Hall “has financial implications for the council” which had not been set out, nor had potential alternative uses for it.