WYRE Forest Tories could be forced to sell their Kidderminster HQ in a bid to stave off a financial crisis after their long standing tenants announced they were moving out.

Wyre Forest Conservative Association (WFCA) today confirmed that commercial property consultants GJS Dillon have been called in to market Margaret Thatcher House either for sale or to let.

In further cost-cutting measures, the association is also having to make two part-time office staff redundant with all administration duties being carried out by volunteers within the organisation.

The association also believe that outsourcing printing requirements will also help save money.

These drastic decisions, agreed by the WFCA executive committee at an emergency meeting on Monday (October 1), are being made after George Law - who have rented out space at the Mill Street property for around 40 years - decided to leave.

WFCA chairman Jonathan Swift said the huge loss of income, worth more than £20,000 per year, had forced a major reorganisation of the association with a view to reduce expenditure.

As well as marketing Margaret Thatcher House – which has been their home for around 50 years - he said they will be submitting a planning application for the creation of one or two bedroom flats within the building.

Mr Swift, who took over as WFCA chairman in March, said: “A decision was taken at the meeting to put the property on the market for letting or to sell.

“We have also started the process for redundancy and informed the staff affected. Obviously nobody is happy about this and these are not decisions we wanted to make.

“But we are suddenly without income from tenants who have been there since the late 1970s and who took up 4,000sq ft of space and that is not easy to replace.

“There has always been a healthy relationship with the tenants and we completely understand they want to consolidate and move out.

“When I took over in March this was certainly not in the job description but we have lost a huge chunk of our income and that means cutting back on our expenditure.”

Mr Swift added: “One thing I did find at the meeting was a great deal of support from all committee members and this has concentrated our minds.”