The upkeep of a dilapidated eyesore in the centre of Carlisle has cost city taxpayers more than £250,000 in the last six years.

Carlisle City Council has had to fork out money 11 times since 2011 to ensure the site of the former Central Plaza Hotel remains safe.

The largest sum was £165,384 last year, money which paid for scaffolding to be improved and the partial demolition of a chimney.

A further £75,377 was spent between 2011 and 2013 addressing water ingress and repairing the roof before the current Labour administration took over the leadership of the city council.

The remaining eight projects including a number of surveys have been small scale, and cost just shy of £18,200 when totted up together.

The figures were revealed by city council leader Colin Glover as he reaffirmed this week that the authority continues to make "every effort" to find a new use or owner for the hotel site.

The ownership and care issues surrounding the Central Plaza Hotel remain some of the most complex that the city council is dealing with, Mr Glover told The Cumberland News.

The Central Plaza, which closed in 2004, is effectively ownerless.

It is owned by the Crown but legal representatives have made it clear to the city council that they will not do anything that could be seen as act of possession or ownership.

It leaves the council with an obligation to maintain the site until a long-term solution is found.

Mr Glover said: "It is an unwelcome amount of money but it has been necessary.

"There have been two major outlays but apart from that many have been for much smaller amounts."

Councillor Paul Nedved pushed Mr Glover for answers about the Upper Viaduct building's future at a meeting of the full city council on Tuesday night.

He demanded an update on progress after raising similar concerns two years ago.

His question was prompted after the Viaduct and wider Citadel areas, a gateway into the city centre, suffered two major blows.

Several traders in the Viaduct area are to close.

And, a bid for government cash to transform the wider Citadel gateway failed to secure adequate funding.

The Carlisle Station Gateway and Citadel Project was one among a string of scheme which Cumbria Local Enterprise Partnership hoped to fund had its bid for £165m from the Government’s Growth Deal 3 been successful. The county as a whole got only £12.7m.

Cumbria County Council vacated the Citadel buildings when it relocated to Cumbria House on Botchergate. Whilst part of the Citadel complex is now being used by Carlisle Foodbank, Mr Nedved says the rest is now "looking very sad".

Mr Glover responded to Mr Nedved, stating: "We have continued to work hard to resolve the issue of the ownerless Central Plaza Hotel.

"We're exploring all options with potential developers and potential grant funders.

"We've maintained regular contact with Crown solicitor representatives who remain determined in their long standing position, that they will not take any action that may be construed as an act of management, possession or ownership."
"This is all the more frustrating because had the building been an asset with financial value, they would undoubtedly have sold it and retained the proceeds."

He added: "We will continue to make every effort to encourage and attract businesses who may be able to make progress on securing a long term solution."

Mr Glover says the hotel and the Citadel are both "important features of emerging regeneration thinking" for the city.