Welshpool Town Council has voted to move forward with works to the Tourist Information Centre roof amid fears of more spiralling costs.

Some town councillors were concerned over another project at Welshpool’s Tourist Information centre after a proposal to spend money on roof works on the building was brought up at a meeting on November 20.

The council’s services and property committee discussed the works, which were estimated to cost more than £3,000, that will see two scaffolding towers set up to remove moss and algae from the roof, refit the downpipes and clean all the gutters of debris.

Councillors were told that the works were needed for general maintenance as well as part of the council’s preparation to apply for grant funding towards fitting solar panels on the building’s roof.

But some members of the committee were concerned at the idea of more work to the centre, after a project to renovate the building initially budgeted for under £100,000 ballooned to well over £250,000.

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Cllr Billy Spencer said: “As of now it’s not a huge massive rush to get it done. We might need to think about going away, getting quotes done properly and doing research on this.

“We were told everyone knew the people who renovated the Tourist Information Centre. As far as I’m concerned this has no breakdown or references to assure us they do good work. I would prefer to know a bit more about the companies, who the recommendations are from. I think we can’t be too careful.”

Committee members were assured that the council’s operations team had researched the companies they had approached to carry out the work and could personally vouch for them.

Cllr David France said: “I’m hearing some legitimate concerns here. It’s important to remeber we can factor these into the process.

"If something comes up and it turns out we shouldn’t go with this quote or if there’s a black hole in the budget, we can assess that if it happens.

“If we end up having damage to the roof from lack of maintenance or miss out on having renewable energy because we wait too long, it would be a problem.

“If we factor these concerns in and go ahead, assuming nothing bad happens, at least we have a way forward for the office.”

Committee members voted in favour of supporting the proposal, which will to full council for approval.