THE votes have been cast and counted and the final verdict is in.

The people of Wyre Forest have voted overwhelmingly in favour of demolishing the Piano Building and putting a cinema in its place, with the Shuttle/Times and News inundated with 2,859 votes over the last month.

We asked your opinion on the wrangle between Highstone Estates, which is forward-funding the revamp of Kidderminster town centre, and the town's civic society, which successfully appealed to have the building listed days before it was due to be knocked down.

And 87 per cent of voters want the return of the silver screen after more than 20 years. The Piano Building

Highstone and developer Centros Miller insist the Piano Building is the only feasible site for a cinema on the Weavers Wharf development and that it would be "uneconomically viable" to put it to another use.

However, the civic watchdog says it is essential the structure, a disused former carpet warehouse, is maintained as a key part of Kidderminster's industrial heritage.

Highstone had pledged to invest £100,000 pursuing listed building consent to demolish it if the majority of Shuttle/Times & News readers demanded it.

But we are now arranging a meeting - for a date to be fixed - to be attended by all the key players to try to thrash out a way forward.

Representatives from Highstone, Centros Miller, the civic society, the architects, the firm which has carried out a feasibility study into the Piano Building, plus MP Dr Richard Taylor and the Shuttle/Times and News will hold round-the-table talks.

Possible alternative sites for a cinema and alternative uses for the Piano Building will be on the agenda for the meeting.