THE race is on to save Kidderminster's historic Piano Building after Whitehall chiefs called "cut" on plans to build a cinema elsewhere in town.

Save Britain's Heritage was "appalled" to discover Wyre Forest District Council planners had given the go-ahead for developer Centros Miller to knock down the 19th century five-storey building once cinema operator Omniplex has signed a contract.

And the London-based conservation group has written to the Government's Department of Culture, Media and Sport to back Kidderminster Civic Society's bid for the building - which looks like a grand piano from the air - to be listed for its historic importance.

But, after the Government Office for the Regions decided to call in rival plans for a cinema on the Crossley Park B and Q site last month, plans to bring the silver screen back to the town now focus on the derelict carpet warehouse.

B and Q scrapped the plan as a public inquiry would have meant a delay of 18 months.

Save Britain's Heritage secretary Adam Wilkinson, said: "The pressure is absolutely on to save the Piano Building.

"The priority is for them to list it.

"While there is little doubt that Kidderminster needs a cinema, there are, of course, more appropriate sites in the town, which would not involve the destruction of a handsome part of the it's proud industrial heritage."

He added: "The answer to the blight of dereliction is not demolition - it is conservation and rescue."

Civic society secretary Charles Talbot said: "We are obviously disappointed at the B and Q decision, but now it's just a case of waiting for the department's decision on whether they want to list the Piano Building or not."