A decision on the future of Bromyard Town Council's offices must be made by the end of March.

The council has to decide whether to renew the lease on the Rowberry Street building or to buy the town's Old Library and Magistrates' Courts from Herefordshire Council.

At a town council meeting on Monday, Herefordshire Council's property services manager Colin Birks told members that time was of the essence.

He said Herefordshire Council currently had no intention of selling the Rowberry Street building, but council property was always under review.

He told members they could extend their 12-month lease to a maximum of seven years, but he could not guarantee the building would not be put up for sale in that time.

The town council wants bigger offices on the building's ground floor, but Mr Birks said the request was unlikely to be met for 12-18 months.

He said Herefordshire Council had held back from selling the Old Library and Magistrates' Courts since the town council inquired about its purchase last year.

"We're still incurring costs for maintaining security on the building, our own staff have to check it regularly and we're still insuring it," said Mr Birks.

"We would like to see an agreement on its disposal in March, the 31st really is a deadline date."

Mayor Pearl Briggs said space at the council's present offices was inadequate, but she was concerned that within 12-18 months the building could be sold, leaving the council "homeless".

"We have to make a decision about this fairly quickly," she said.

"Our working party is meeting soon to discuss this."