MALVERN Town Council has decided to stay in its current headquarters at Belle Vue Terrace... for the time being.

The council's purchase of the building, formerly Manders pharmacy and the Bran Tub health food shop, set off a huge political row in the council.

Buying and converting it cost more than £600,000 and more that £400,000 in loans is still outstanding.

Malvern Town Action Group, which won control of the council in 2003, was born out of dissatisfaction at the cost of the project. In January 2004, the council ordered a full-scale review of the building.

At its meeting on Tuesday (April 26), members accepted a number of recommendations from a working party set up to look at the problem.

It said the cheapest option was to do nothing for two or three years, until Community Action's current lease on the building's third floor has ended.

Coun Mike Selby, who chaired the party, said the council should help Community Action to find another base and then look again at the building's future.

He said the most likely option then was to sell the Belle Vue Terrace building and look for somewhere else in Malvern for the council's headquarters.

The idea of refurbishing or replacing the former Bran Tub behind the main office, which could cost anything from £80,000 to £1.45 million, was rejected.

Coun Selby said the electors of Malvern would be unlikely to put up with further spending on the building.