Council plans college move for HQ

Monmouthshire and Torfaen Council's County Hall

The bill for repairing the existing HQ could be more than �30M

A south Wales local authority wants to relocate its headquarters to the campus of a further education college.

Monmouthshire council said it plans to move to the Usk campus of Coleg Gwent and the campus will in turn relocate to a new purpose-built building.

Monmouthshire and Torfaen councils have been looking for new homes since it emerged it would cost �30m to repair their shared county hall in Cwmbran.

Coleg Gwent said the relocation proposal was good news.

The college will share its headquarters at the Usk campus with the local authority.

The campus itself, which delivers a selection of sport and land-based courses, will shift to a site opposite its current location in a new building.

Steve Greenslade, Monmouthshire council corporate director, said: "The bill for repairing the existing council headquarters would be over �30m and even then would be a very inefficient and costly building to run.

This is good news for both Coleg Gwent and the council

Coleg Gwent principal Howard Burton

"The new combined HQ with Coleg Gwent would represent a cost effective solution within the county, incorporating many energy efficient measures, helping to reduce our carbon footprint."

It was revealed 18 months ago that both local authorities would vacate the 1960s Cwmbran building which faced being condemned.

It is understood Monmouthshire now plans to move out of the existing HQ by 2012.

Councillor Peter Fox, the council leader, also said they were "delighted that we are able to work in partnership with Coleg Gwent".

"This helps us both to reduce costs and, from Monmouthshire's point of view, will be a much cheaper solution than to pay for the essential structural repairs to the existing County Hall."

Estates strategy

He added: "This scheme allows both parties to maximise operating efficiencies as well as ensuring that sustainable principles are adopted throughout the life of this building."

College principal Howard Burton said: "This is good news for both Coleg Gwent and the council.

"The proposed plans will enable the college to build a new campus with fit-for-purpose resources to benefit staff and students.

"The plans will also enable us to further progress phase one of the estates strategy, which aims to provide the college with facilities that fully meet the expectations and needs for academic and vocational training."

The development is subject to planning permission and approval from the Welsh Assembly Government.

Meanwhile, Torfaen council has been looking at alternative schemes like home working to accommodate some of its headquarters staff and is also looking to see if it can set up a private sector partnership to provide a new base.

A spokesman said both councils have already done some preliminary work on a protocol that would bring structure to their arrangements to vacate County Hall and they "remain committed to work together to ensure a smooth transition".