Wrangle over £10,000 electricity bill for empty Shrewsbury building

Shropshire Council is involved in a wrangle with an electricity company after receiving a £10,000 bill for a building that has been empty for more than 18 months.

Officials are in dispute with Southern Electric over the bill for Chronicle House in Shrewsbury and believe the utilities company must have made a mistake. The bill is for a six-month period from February to the end of July.

Council spokeswoman Laura Owen said no-one had used the three-storey building in Castle Foregate since it was sold by Shropshire Newspapers to the authority in 2009.

She said: "There has been no-one in that building so we need to find out where that electricity is going."

It had been earmarked for a £3.9 million plan to turn it into a youth centre featuring a chill-out room with a coffee bar and internet cafe, performance space with a stage area and a production facility, but the proposals were scrapped after Government funding dried up.

Tim Smith, Shropshire Council's group manager for facilities management, said officials were trying to get to the bottom of the situation.

He said: "We have been notified by the electricity supplier of a potentially large bill incurred while the building was unoccupied.

"We have asked the supplier to investigate this for us. Chronicle House is being re-marketed in accordance with the council's new asset management strategy and ongoing review of our property and asset portfolio."

A spokesman for Southern Electric today said the company was unable to comment on individual cases.

Council bosses say alth- ough the Shrewsbury Teenspace project earmarked for Chronicle House has been scrapped, a similar scheme in Oswestry is continuing.

Teenspace Oswestry will see the Centre North West at Oak Street rebuilt and transformed into a centre for IT facilities, a coffee bar, kitchen, multi-media suite, practice and dance room.

Chronicle House is for sale for offers in the region of £400,000. The building covers about 556.85 square metres with secure parking for 20 cars.

Agents Towler Shaw Roberts say it is suitable for a variety of commercial and residential uses, subject to planning.

By Russell Roberts