Malvern Town Council submits bid to buy former NatWest branch to move offices into in attempt to become more 'public facing' - The Malvern Observer

Malvern Town Council submits bid to buy former NatWest branch to move offices into in attempt to become more 'public facing'

Malvern Editorial 5th Sep, 2017 Updated: 5th Sep, 2017   0

CHIEFS at Malvern Town Council have revealed they have submitted an offer to purchase a former bank branch to move its offices into in a bid to become more ‘public facing’.

The authority intends to buy the NatWest building, on Church Street, which closed its doors in June and is valued at approximately £275,000 by agents GVA.

Currently, the town council offices are located on the first floor of Bellevue Terrace and have been there since 2001.

But with no reception space and lack of convenient car parking available, bosses believe a move to the NatWest branch would be a ‘good investment’.




A town council spokesperson said: “The council are very positive about this project.

“We are here to provide a service and we would be in a better place to do that if people could walk in off the street.


“Because we not easily accessible in the Bellevue Terrace offices, people doubt coming here.

“The council should be public facing and the building we have bid for has plenty of potential and should we be successful in our bid, our next task is to decide how best to use the space.

“The NatWest bank is in a prominent position and we feel it would a good investment of council funds for the benefit of Malvern residents.”

If successful in their bid, the town council plans to let out their current offices to add to its £60,000 a year income from Bellevue Terrace.

They also moved quickly to quash any rumours of the Tourist Information Centre potentially being moved into the former NatWest branch, as reported elsewhere.

“Nothing formal about retaining the TIC or a TIC function in the town has been discussed and what has been leaked is merely speculation,” added the spokesperson.

Malvern Hills District Council previously decided to sell the TIC and move the service into a new £1.5million premises on the top of Priory Lodge.

However, those plans were stalled after the authority found out Historic England had designated the lodge on Avenue Road as a Grade II listed building.

The district council confirmed they would retain the TIC in town and look at all avenues in how to achieve that.

The Observer is currently waiting for a comment from NatWest.

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