PUBLIC consultation is getting underway regarding the future of Keighley's troubled civic centre.

A Brighouse-based company, Enventure Research, will canvass townspeople for their views on what should happen with the iconic North Street building.

One suggestion already put forward is that the building could once again house a police station, or provide NHS drop-in facilities.

Senior councillors admitted at the annual town meeting – held in the centre last week – that the consultation, which is costing about £23,000, should have been carried out years ago.

Fierce criticism was previously levelled at the town council after revelations the premises were losing large sums of money.

And the site's police and forensic science museum, shop, cafe and bar had to be shut after doubts surfaced about the legality of trading in the building.

"We are looking to put the decision about the centre to the public," Councillor Michael Westerman, chairman of the civic centre strategy committee, told the town meeting.

"We were criticised for not speaking to the public before about what it wanted in the centre and I apologise for that. If we had consulted then, we wouldn't have had to do it now.

"But the past is the past and we want to look to the future. The company carrying out the consultation has considerable experience of dealing with councils and organising exactly the research we are looking for.

"We have to come up with viable uses for the building, which could be bringing drop-in centres under one roof or maybe housing the police.

"I encourage people to get involved in the consultation. We want to know what you think and what you want to see.

"During the past three years, people have said we should be doing this or doing that, but they don't come to the meetings so we can speak to them face to face.

"We are working for you and this year we're moving forward."

Consultation forms will be made available at locations across the town and online, and focus groups set-up.

Town mayor, Cllr Javaid Akhtar, said it had been a difficult year, but also a "fascinating" 12 months in which he had been privileged to serve as civic head and attend many functions.

He added the auditors had signed-off the council's accounts for 2013-14 and 2014-15, but that "much of the controversy" regarding the legal status of the civic centre is ongoing.

Cllr Amjad Zaman, who chairs the committee responsible for the day-to-day running of the centre, said the building could potentially provide an alternative if the closure-threatened police station in Royd Ings Avenue did shut.

"I am completely against the police station moving out of Keighley, and will fight tooth and nail to keep it here," he said.

"The police should have a presence in the town.

"The civic centre was built as a police station, and if they did decide to close their current premises, this would be an option."