HEREFORDSHIRE no longer needs its only official nuclear shelter. The cold war survivor is set to see out service as a storage site, writes BILL TANNER.

Once thought vital to the region's survival, the controversial concrete bunker beneath Arkwright Court, Leominster, now appears as out of date as the logic that inspired it.

The five main nuclear powers have confirmed a 'commitment' to eliminating their atomic arsenals. Although largely symbolic, the gesture was hailed as a landmark in the cause of a nuclear-free world.

But things were very different when the Arkwright Court bunker was built back in the early 1980s. The threat from atomic attack was ever present, and Herefordshire, like all other areas, was expected to prepare for such a strike.

As the only official fallout shelter the bunker would have housed council officials chosen to run selected services. Known as an 'emergency control room', thick walls and a heavily reinforced door housed communications kit and power supplies.

Not everyone welcomed the bunker. Public protests, including marches, pickets, petitions, blockades and even a book greeted proposals to spend some £70,000, including Government grants, building it.

As the cold war thawed over subsequent years, the facility's function was frequently called into question. Options for alternative use ranged from a social centre to underground offices.

But the then Leominster District Council maintained the shelter as a 'co-ordination centre' in case of disaster. By 1994, the town's civic trust was offering access but warned there was little to view beyond a ventilation system and telephone line.

In 1998 the bunker became the responsibility of Herefordshire Council and has effectively been empty ever since.

A spokesperson for the authority said the shelter was being looked at as a site for short-term storage, but admitted that 'we don't need it anymore'.

l Although Arkwright Court was the county's only official nuclear shelter, provision for a similar facility exists under Hereford Shirehall. Plans were also put forward as late as 1988 for a bunker beneath Brockington, the present county council HQ.