Building work under way on new County Hall

Council leaders gathered at Portland Park for the ground-breaking ceremony of the controversial project, led by Northumberland development company Arch on behalf of the council.

Construction company Galliford Try has been appointed to the scheme which, along with the redevelopment of Ashington town centre, is expected to provide up to 220 construction jobs over the next 24 months.

The current 36-acre council headquarters site in Morpeth will be sold off for housing, with part of it retained for a new first school, leisure centre, library complex and hotel.

The current Labour administration claims the move to a smaller, more cost effective premises will save the authority £630,000 a year – almost £16m over the next 25 years – compared to staying at its current site.

Council leader Coun. Grant Davey said: “This is a welcome next step in our market towns initiative to regenerate and improve Northumberland’s towns.

“We’re pleased to have started work on the scheme which is for the benefit of the town, the county and the wider region.”

But the move to the new five-storey building in Ashington, which will have 910 work stations, a customer service centre, conference facilities, meeting rooms and a public cafe and toilets, has divided opinion from the outset.

Leader of Northumberland Conservatives, Coun. Peter Jackson, said: “The Conservative group has been the only group to consistently point out that this new county hall project in Ashington is a monumental waste of money, entered into for political reasons by a council which claims to be cash-strapped.

“People up and down Northumberland are rightly very angry about this at a time when essential services are under pressure.

“Whatever the protestations and spin, we are only at the groundwork stage. Labour’s panic is clear, as in just a few weeks’ time, on May 4, voters will have their opportunity to make their decision on whether the council should pile millions of their money into this unwanted vanity project.”