LABOUR leaders have been forced to put their “barmy” plans for a multi-million pound new headquarters for Northumberland County Council in their south-east Northumberland heartland of Ashington on the back burner.

The soaring cost of the proposed new County Hall would make it an expensive white elephant, according to Hexham’s Tory MP Guy Opperman.

But it is not the strong opposition to the scheme which this week led to the multi-million project being shelved until the autumn.

The scheme was due to be approved by the council’s cabinet, but an 11th hour hitch over parking arrangements has forced the council to think again.

The council has added another floor to the proposed new building, requiring additional parking – but there is no agreement in place with the owners of the site where the additional vehicles are supposed to go.

And with the parking site located on the wrong side of a railway line, a bridge may be required.

Defending the decision to postpone discussions, council chief executive Steve Mason said: “We want to ensure that every aspect of these ambitious proposals has been taken as far as it can before we bring it before the full council.”

He added: “Our officers still need to carry out some further technical work around parking provision at the Ashington site and this won’t be complete in time.

“Although all other aspects of these proposals are ready for consideration, it is in the best interests of everyone to consider these proposals in their entirety slightly later in the year.”

Tory group leader Coun. Peter Jackson, of Heddon, described the new County Hall project as “a joke”.

He added: “As everyone knows there is very little structurally wrong with the existing building in Morpeth.

“A full structural survey would show that there is no need to move in the first instance.

“We have a current, operational building which was designed for open plan working and has the facilities to accommodate the right number of staff for the council’s requirements.

“There can be no doubt that this new County Hall in Ashington is a Labour vanity project of the very worst kind.

“It is the ultimate arrogance from a dictatorial Labour administration and every single person I have spoken to about this across Northumberland has been appalled.

“At a time when cash is tight for local government, our county council should be looking to maintain front-line services and certainly not have this expensive folly as its priority.”

Also attacking the project was Hexham’s MP Guy Opperman, who called for it to be scrapped rather than just being delayed, as a new report indicated the cost had increased by 72 per cent on the original estimates.

He said: “There never was any sensible business case to build a new County Hall in Ashington and this reports proves it.

“Costs are already spiralling out of control, ballooning by millions, and it hasn’t even been formally given the go-ahead yet.”

Mr Opperman said local Tory councillors had made it clear the scheme was “a huge waste of money” with no sensible reasoning to back it up.

He said: “Local council taxpayers will be lumbered with this costly white elephant for years.”

Haltwhistle’s Conservative councillor Ian Hutchinson pointed out the proposed new headquarters would be a two-hour round trip from Haltwhistle, by car, or a six-hour one on the bus!

He added: “Quite frankly the whole scheme is barmy.”

However, council leader Coun. Grant Davey maintained the move to Ashington would bring economic benefits to Northumberland.

He said: “Independent consultants, not the council, calculated that moving the council’s headquarters to Ashington would bring a positive economic impact worth £52.8m to the town.

“At the same time, releasing the current County Hall site for development would give Morpeth a positive economic impact worth £56m.

“We’re actually proposing what the Government wants all local authorities to do – looking to regenerate more deprived areas and boost their economies. The bottom line is it will still be cheaper to build a new county HQ than to remain where we are.”

He said staying in Morpeth for the next 25 years would cost over £37m in operational and maintenance costs.

Coun. Davey also acknowledged that making the building larger would cost more in terms of build cost, but will offer better value.

He concluded: “As for claims in some quarters that travelling to Ashington from the west of the county would take substantially more time than a trip to Morpeth, with the new infrastructure we’re putting in place, at most a further 10 minute journey would be required.”

brian.tilley@hexham-courant.co.uk