Midlanders are being urged to think of creative ways in which dilapidated buildings across the region can be rescued and restored by English Heritage.

The West Midlands has the most sites in the organisation's Buildings At Risk Register for 2006, which was launched in Coventry yesterday.

Although ten vulnerable buildings have been removed from the list since last year, the region has 17 new entries, including the Red Lion Pub in Handsworth and a part of Curzon Street station in Digbeth.

That means the total number of buildings across the region on the list is now 193 - the highest number in the nine English regions.

The register, which was launched at Upper Spon Street terraces in Coventry, is a list of the nation's most vulnerable Grade I and Grade II buildings and scheduled ancient monuments.

English Heritage has offered grant aid of £665,000 to 13 projects across the Midlands this year.

Hermon Chapel, in Oswestry, Shropshire, has been fully restored and repaired so it can now resume its role as a place of worship.

Repair works have also been completed at the Molineux Hotel, in Wolver-hampton, the Maltkiln and Cellars in Alton, Stafford-shire, the Benedictine Priory in Nuneaton, Warwickshire, and the Church House, at Areley Kings, Worcestershire.

In England, 30,517 buildings or monuments are listed Grade I and II* and during 2005-06 English Heritage offered grants totalling £4.9 million to help save 68 of the most vulnerable.

More than 7,350 of the buildings on the register are the highest priority Category A sites, which are at 'immediate risk of further rapid deterioration or loss of fabric'. Thirty per cent of them are in the West Midlands, compared to eight per cent in London.

Nick Molyneux, English Heritage's historic buildings inspector for the region, said: "The best way to save a building is to find a good new use for it which will give the building a sustainable future.

"The Upper Spon Street buildings are truly a case in point, demonstrating what can be achieved to save some of the region's most vulnerable and precious buildings through a creative approach to their restoration.

"After many years on the Buildings At Risk Register, these unique 500-year-old houses are now being brought back into use again.

"With ongoing involvement from local people, the buildings will provide an important community facility which will contribute to the regeneration of the area." English Heritage also welcomed the new BBC2 series of Restoration Village which aims to mobilise the country to save rural buildings at risk, and will feature Chedham's Yard, in Welles-bourne, Warwickshire.

Roly Keating, controller of BBC2, said: "We are delighted that Restoration Village will air this summer, a real mark of the lasting impact that series one and two of Restoration had on the nation.

"In contrast to the previous two series, we are devoting this show to the plight of rural buildings at risk and the communities who are passionately committed to ensuring that their precious local heritage has a future.