A LARGELY bleak picture is painted of the future of a prominent yet neglected building in the centre of St Austell in a report presented to town councillors this week.

Town clerk David Pooley, who has been involved in discussions with Cornwall Council about the former General Wolfe pub building off Truro Road, compiled the report to update councillors.

The building was bought by Corserv Facilities, a wholly-owned company of Cornwall Council, in 2020, with the intention of housing homeless families. The council was granted money by the government to develop the building but this proved insufficient and the project stalled.

In the report, Mr Pooley says: “The building does not meet current housing standards and due to the passage of time since the original purchase of the building, the cost of improvements is likely to be prohibitive.

“Part of the building is listed which restricts how it might be changed. There is a flying freehold to the side of the building. Traffic around the building is a major source of danger.

‘The site has attracted a lot of anti-social behaviour and is a drain on resource for Cornwall Council, Conserv Facilities, the police and the BID (Business Improvement District) to evict squatters and board the building up.

“Due to its listed status, Heritage England has advised Cornwall Council that they are opposed to demolition of the building.

“Cornwall Council estimates that conversion and updating costs are likely to be between £2-million and £3-million, depending on the end use if the building is retained.

“There is no large-scale funding at the present time to facilitate any improvement identified.”

Cornwall Council is continuing to deliberate what to do. Potential options remain those of demolition, partial demolition with the listed part of the building being put to community use, refurbishing the building for housing/community use, or selling on the building.