MALVERN Town Council is to pay back two loans it took out to help fund the conversion of Manders chemists into its offices.

The council, then under a different administration, took out three loans in 1998 and 1999 to help pay for the purchase and renovation of the Belle Vue Terrace building.

At a meeting this week, the council heard the three loans were for £300,000, £145,000 and £45,000.

With interest rates between five and six per cent, they were costing the council £36,610 a year in repayment costs.

Finance officer Linda Stone explained how the council could pay back the two smaller loans using money in its reserves, and members agreed unanimously to repay them. The two loans will now be paid off in early September.

Members also agreed to keep a close eye on the remaining loan and repay it as soon as possible, when money becomes available, possibly through the sale of land.

Coun Roger Hall-Jones said: "It seems to me to be a fairly practical and sensible way to go forward. I have a desire to see these loans paid off, and I would like to see the council pay all its loans off by the end of the year."

At the same meeting, members agreed to sell off land at Windrush Crescent, where outline planning permission has been granted for two bungalows to be built.

The sale is expected to generate between £180,000 and £200,000, and councillors hope the money raised will go towards paying off the remaining loan.