PLANS by Bradford on Avon councillors to purchase the town’s former Lloyds Bank premises in Church Street have been abandoned.

The council is looking to address its future office accommodation needs and the 19th century three-storey bank has been vacant since the branch closed in May.

But the council decided not to proceed as it did not have a business plan in place for the purchase and was concerned about the potential renovation costs.

Councillor David Garwood, the Bradford on Avon mayor, told Wednesday’s full town council meeting they had decided not to bid for the premises.

“We had the opportunity to look at the Lloyds Bank building quite carefully to see if it was suitable, including access for the disabled.

“Having consulted widely and discussed all the pros and cons our decision at the end was not to make a bid.”

Councillors went into private session at their full council meeting on July 24 to discuss buying the Grade 2 listed building. Sealed ‘best and final offers’ had to be placed by the deadline of July 26.

The freehold of the building at 30 Church Street is being marketed by Bristol-based selling agents CBRE Ltd with a guide price of £200,000.

CBRE spokesperson Nikita Dheir said it was “too soon” to reveal who the successful bidder is. The firm is likely to make an announcement before the end of August.

Cllr Dominic Newton said the council had sufficient funding available to make a bid and was examining its future needs for office accommodation.

It is currently occupying two floors at St Margaret’s Hall and one member of staff works at the Tourist Information Centre in Westbury Gardens.

Cllr Newton added: “We chose not to do so for a number of reasons, focussed primarily on the absence of a clear plan and the unknown cost of making the building ‘fit for purpose’.

“There is likely to be a need to address town council office accommodation, and this would have been a way of doing so, but we have not yet defined that need.

“To make it work would have required ‘bolting on’ other facilities in a relatively ad hoc way; without visibility of renovation costs, we did not feel we could justify the initial outlay in the knowledge that we may end up being required to throw a lot more capital at it - capital that could well be required elsewhere in the town for public works.”

Earlier this year, Lloyds Bank announced the Bradford on Avon branch was to close on May 16 because more customers are now banking online.

Local residents and businesses sent the banking group a 834-signature petition protesting against the closure, which left the town centre without a cashpoint following the earlier closure of the HSBC branch nearby.