Urgent works costing £43,000 will soon start at the crumbling Central Plaza Hotel in Carlisle – but a long-term solution for the eyesore is still being sought.

Carlisle City Council is footing the bill for the emergency works which will assess the structure of the building on Victoria Viaduct.

Colin Glover, leader of the council, said: “The initial phase of the work is for improvement and adaptation of the scaffolding to allow access for an inspection of the chimneys, dormers and roof structure to determine what works need to be done to obviate any danger that could be caused by the property.”

West Walls road is likely to be closed on Monday and Tuesday next week while the works are carried out.

Mr Glover explained that the city council was having to address the hotel’s poor condition because it does not have an owner.

By law the city council has a duty to ensure the property does not cause a danger to people in and around the building.

The Grade II listed building dates back to 1882 and was a successful 84-bedroom, three-star hotel until it closed in October 2004. It was originally put on the market with a price tag of £1.3m.

Over the last 12 years it has been bought by various companies.

It failed to sell at auction twice in 2007 and though at one time it was set to be converted into 35 apartments, three town houses, a bar and restaurant, it has gradually decayed and crumbled.

The building has been covered in scaffolding since 2008 and is a notorious eyesore in the city centre. Instead of attracting investors it has been a magnet for thieves, vandals and arsonists, who set fire to it in 2011.

Earlier this year a feasibility concluded that renovation would be more cost-effective than demolition. The £10,000 feasibility study, funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund and carried out by Carlisle’s Black Box Architects, examined the likely costs of three possible options for the building: total demolition, partial demolition with some rebuilding, and total renovation.

It concluded that it would cost £5m to demolish the building and £6.3m to restore it to the point where it could be taken over by the partner developer.

It was hoped that the majority of the cost of restoring the building could be met by grants because of the hotel’s heritage.

Mr Glover said that discussions are taking place between the City Centre Business Group and other potential partners and funders in order to identify a long-term solution for the site.