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Over £1m needed to revamp railway station and cottages

Geograph/Nigel Thompson Cirencester's old railway stationGeograph/Nigel Thompson
The district council would like to turn the station into a cultural central

Plans to turn Cirencester's Old Railway station and Memorial Cottages into a cultural centre could cost as much as £1m, councillors have been warned.

Cotswold District Council leaders are considering their options for renovating and reusing the Old Station and Memorial Cottages in Sheep Street.

It would take about £564,000 of external funding for the station and £490,000 to renovate the cottages.

If it cannot achieve this, the council might have to sell the properties.

On Monday, the council's cabinet asked officers to investigate further to see whether it would be viable to bring the buildings back into use for community groups such as New Brewery Arts, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Sensitively restored

Corporate services cabinet member Lisa Spivey said the council would like to upgrade the cottages and bring them into the 21st Century by sensitively restoring them.

"We also want to bring back to life the old station building itself.

"It has stood vacant for a long time and it's in a state of quite serious disrepair internally," she told the meeting.

"We would all agree that bringing our lovely historic buildings back into use is a priority for this council."

Geograph/Ben Brooksbank Cirencester's old railway station in the 1980sGeograph/Ben Brooksbank
The station closed to passengers in the mid-1960s

Health and wellbeing cabinet member Jenny Forde said it was "heart-breaking" to have such an iconic building empty for a long time.

She said: "I was looking through some old photographs at home the other day and I found one of my father on the platform when it was still a train station and he used to come here to visit his grandfather for holidays."

Ms Forde said it would be fantastic if the council could bring the building back into use and turn it into a vibrant community facility.

The Old Station was built in 1841 and was designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel.

The Grade-II-listed building closed to passengers in April 1964 as part of the Beeching cuts which saw many railway stations shut during the 1960s.

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