A TASK force should be set up aimed at ending the limbo situation facing Wrexham Council over the town's Grade II listed Groves School.

That was the recommendation of backbench councillors to the announcement that the £11.5 million estimate for converting the former girls grammar school into a primary school was a price tag too much to bear.

But members of the customer, performance, resources and governance scrutiny committee also agreed it was time to work out a solution to a "political football" scenario in relation to the school.

In line with the recommendation to the meeting, councillors came out in favour of exploring options for building a 480-pupil primary school on land at the site, but agreed the building itself could not be converted into one because the compromises in doing so were considered to be prohibitive.

Members baulked at the prospect of spending £11.5m to bring it up to scratch, with the building's listed status posing too many obstacles in terms of ensuring the building would meet the required standards of a 21st century school.

However, councillors have also recommended that the future use of the building should not be left to mothball and suggested a joint task and finish group be set up to discuss how and what it could be used for.

A feasibility study carried out by TACP Architects concluded any conversion of the existing site would require a number of important compromises to be made when compared with building a new primary school.

Cllr Phil Wynn, lead member for education, said it was frustrating the building could not be used, but that it was only right a feasibility study was carried out as the building was deemed surplus to education department requirements.

He said: "The cost of a re-modelled school would be significantly more than that of a new school and the finished product would be lower in quality.

"We can't hide away from the fact we would need to fund this and it most likely would be at the expense of other projects in the county."

Concerns were raised by councillors about the potential for the building to continue to be left to simply mothball at a cost of about £11,000 per annum, with Cllr Mark Davies saying he was "uncomfortable" and found it "hard to accept" that the building was considered surplus to requirements

Head of education Ian Roberts said "anything was possible" but the compromised nature of the refurbishment and the costs involved left his department with little choice.

Cllr Geoff Lowe said although he agreed with most of what had been said but there remained a crucial legal question over the covenants [limiting use of the Groves building to an education facility] that were currently placed on the land, which would need to be resolved before any future use could be determined.

He said: "The Groves has become a political football over the last 10 years or so. We're kicking something around that we should be really proud of."

Cllr Paul Jones, who represents the Maesydre ward, said he was pleased the site was back on the agenda and was happy about the proposed investment but was concerned the building itself would be pushed to one side.

Council leader Mark Pritchard assured him that any discussions on building a primary school on the site would be aligned to the future use of the Groves building.