A £1m project to restore an historic Oswestry building will go ahead after Shropshire Council agreed to provide funding for the scheme.

The council voted to allocate £270,000 of capital funds to restore the Grade II listed Cambrian Railway Building on Oswald Road, which had been shrouded in scaffolding since it was damaged by a storm in 2022. The council’s funding allocation will release match funding of £630,000 from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.

The money will see the former Oswestry railway station exterior restored and the building brought back into use, with asbestos roof tiles removed and replaced and repairs to decorative features on the buildings exterior planned.

Following the completion of the roof repairs, the council says it will undertake works to bring the interior of the building, which does not have any heating and is described as “poorly insulated” in a cabinet report, back into long term use.

In October last year, the Government announced it would provide funding to restore Oswestry’s rail link to mainline services at Gobowen, with a business case currently being prepared for a two and a half mile long light rail service.

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The council’s “Future Oswestry Plan” says the building will become a “key transport hub and inter change between cars, buses, coaches, walking, cycling and ultimately regular rail transport – with the Cambrian Railway Building at its centre, providing a visual focal point as a landmark building and providing a visitor destination with Café and toilet facilities re-opening to the public.”

Shropshire Council’s cabinet member for Housing and Assets Councillor Dean Carroll said the move would help the council secure a “viable long term use” for the building.

“It is now imperative that the exterior of the building undergoes a restoration to replace the corroded roof tiles and restore and secure the corbels,” he said.

“This together with repainting of the building and repairs of the guttering, soffits and drain-pipes is an essential first step to removing the scaffolding and making the building safe to enable it to be re-used and support the regeneration of this part of Oswestry.

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“It has long been a cornerstone of regeneration efforts within Oswestry and particularly the station gateway quarter that we restore the building to its heyday. That was the reasoning behind us taking back control of the building so that we can bring the project forward.”

The restoration marks the latest phase in a varied history for the building, which has been in use as flats, offices and various other enterprises since Oswestry station closed to rail traffic in 1975.

The building was purchased by Shropshire Council from Tesco in 2005, after the supermarket giant failed to secure planning permission for a new store on the site.