A DECISION to go ahead with a new library and learning centre in the county’s Shire Hall will mean “a renaissance of one of the most important buildings in Herefordshire”, the leader of the county council has claimed.

The neoclassical building in Hereford city centre “has served as a historic hub for many key events in Herefordshire’s history” since its completion over 200 years ago, Coun Jonathan Lester (Three Crosses, Con) told the council’s planning committee, which unanimously approved the council’s plans to proceed with its transformation, at a cost to the council of £3 million.

But it won’t be able to hold court hearings again, ending two centuries of judges handing down sentences there, including at the world famous trial of Major Herbert Armstrong just over 100 years ago, who was convicted of poisoning his wife to death with arsenic at their Cusop home near Hay, where he was the town solicitor.

He was sentenced to death in the Shire Hall dock on April 13, 1922, and became the only lawyer ever executed in the UK when he was hanged at Gloucester Jail on May 31.

The Grade II*- listed building, which contained two court rooms, has been out of use since 2020 when part of its ceiling fell in.

Coun Lester, leader of the Conservative-run administration and who does not usually attend planning meetings, said the move would “elevate library and learning services to a whole new level in Herefordshire”, while other ways to maximise the Shirehall’s full potential will emerge in future.

Committee chair Coun Terry James (Kington), who leads the county’s second largest grouping the Liberal Democrats, said viewing the current state of the building with committee colleagues the day before had been “sad, but also heartening” given the potential to now restore it.

But he thought the building’s proposed opening hours of 7.30am to 5pm were “a nonsense”.

Coun Robert Highfield (Castle, Con) added that it had been “upsetting” to see how much the building had deteriorated, meaning it “could have been beyond repair if left much longer”.

He said replacing the failed ceilings with traditional but “second-rate” lath and plaster as conditioned by the planning approval, rather than modern materials, was “beyond me”.

Former council leader Coun Roger Phillips (Arrow, Con), who narrowly missed being hit by falling lath and plaster in the building four years ago, said: “We have dallied too long, let it decline, and have lost the ability to have a crown court there.”

But the current plan “gives it a solid purpose, will be well-used”, he said, adding: “We must do this properly, otherwise we will never be able to look anybody else in the face again”.

Green councillors had previously opposed the plan, preferring the original proposal to put the new library in a revamped Maylord Orchards shopping centre.

But Green member for the city centre ward Catherince Gennard said she was “really excited about this project, and look forward to getting it started”.