A £30,000 local authority scheme to renovate a fire damaged building in Abergavenny's conservation area will only restore the building's facade and still leave it without a roof councillors have heard.

Councillor Bob Greenland told a meeting of the council's cabinet that he thought it was 'non-sensical' to leave the building roofless and called for the owners of the building, or any new owners to act quickly to restore it.

The Grade II listed Indian Takeaway building in Cross Street was devastated by fire in February 2010 and its increasingly poor condition is contributing to the water penetration problem in neighbouring properties.

At last week's cabinet meeting Councillor Phil Murphy said there was a statutory requirement for MCC to repair the building as a neighbouring building is suffering from severe water penetration.

"This procedure needs to be carried out in the public interest because the neighbouring building is an NHS dentist, which could close if we do not make a decision.

"The building is a blight on the area and a very serious problem."

Amy Longford a member of the authority's the conservation team told members that legal notices had been sent out and not responded to by the owners of the building.

In relation to the replacement of the roof she said, "We can only enforce what we have said we are going to do in the legal notice we served on the owners.

"Putting the building back together is a development opportunity and not a job for the authority."

Councillor Greenland however said it was important that the building was restored to a useable state."

"I agree that the façade will look better in the short term without scaffolding, but it will be obvious that there is no roof."

Councillor Giles Howard said that the state of the building was affecting the appearance of the whole town and asked how long the repair work was likely to take.

Members were told that if the owner does not pay the cost to renovate the street frontage, the authority could then take legal action to recover the monies by means of a forced sale.

Councillor John Prosser stressed that any work undertaken should 'facilitate the removal of the scaffolding' at the earliest opportunity." while Councillor Simon Howarth expressed concerns that the amount allocated for the work may not be enough.

I'm very concerned over our intentions here. The wall is severely exposed with its sash windows and boarded up shop front.

"A sum of £30,000 doesn't go very far in the building trade and are we sure that is enough?" said Councillor Howarth

Leader of the council, councillor Peter Fox added, "Much as we would like to restore this building as soon as possible we have to adhere to the original notice about renovating the façade.

"I'm confident about us not completing the job and putting a roof on the building. This is a developer's job, not ours.

Kellie Beirne, Monmouthshire's chief officer for Regeneration and Culture said: "We are taking an assertive approach to vacant properties like this. The upper floors would make excellent accommodation units, which could easily be filled as we have a high housing demand in Monmouthshire for this type of property."

The cabinet approved a capital budget of £30,000 is established to allow contractors to be instructed to carry out the necessary building work.

This will be financed by recouping the monies from the owner, potentially by means of a forced sale at a later date.