PEOPLE are invited to attend a public meeting to find out what plans - if any - are afoot for the city's crumbling Dee House.

The Grade II listed former convent was meant to be transformed by hotel and restaurant company Daniel Thwaites PLC.

But in October last year Cheshire West and Chester Council announced the deal had fallen through as the project was proving too costly.

Since then a working group has been formed to come up with long-term options for the building and on July 4 residents are invited to hear about its findings so far.

The meeting will take place at the Grosvenor Museum Lecture Theatre from 6pm to 8.30pm.

Chair of the group Andy Foster, on behalf of the Chester Growth Partnership, said: “Since the group first met late last year, we have learned a great deal about Dee House and the amphitheatre on which it sits. The facts we have discovered continue to inform and shape our opinions about the building’s future.

“It is important that residents are also able to hear the facts and join this debate. This event is an opportunity for the people of Chester to hear the facts themselves and reach their own informed conclusions.”

Renowned archaeologists Tony Wilmott of Historic England and Professor Stewart Ainsworth from the University of Chester, from Channel Four’s Time Team and formerly of English Heritage will be speaking at the event.

Other speakers at the event include Una Meehan from the university and Chris Matheson MP.

Cllr Louise Gittins, leader of the council and cabinet member for culture and heritage, said: “What the future holds for Dee House is a question close to many people’s hearts. The working group has come to the end of its fact finding phase and we want the public to come along and hear what the group has discovered.

“The event will focus on the facts that have been learned so far about the site. Discussions and proposals about the building’s future will not feature in this event. This will be the basis of the next phase in the group’s meetings in the summer.

“The group expects to hold a second public event at the end of the full process, when its recommendations on the building’s future will be presented.”

Residents who are unable to attend the July 4 event can watch it on a live online stream via the council’s website

www.cheshirewestandchester.gov.uk

To book your ticket for the public event in July visit

www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/dee-house-the-future-part-one-sharing-the-facts-tickets-62836452521

* The fate of Dee House was the subject of heated debate over the summer of 2016 after a petition calling for its demolition attracted thousands of signatures.

The building was constructed over part of the amphitheatre and many suggested it would be more beneficial to the city’s tourism and culture to knock it down and uncover the whole Roman site.

At the time the council refused to open up public consultation saying what the petition was asking for was “impossible” because it is illegal to demolish a listed building.