FURIOUS opposition councillors claim they have been sidelined over the plans by the Labour administration at Northumberland County Council to build a new county hall in its south-east heartlands.

The Tories say they were promised a vote on the controversial plans to abandon the 30-year-old purpose-built County Hall in Morpeth in favour of a new £40m HQ in Ashington.

However, they have now been told at the 11th hour that the Labour leadership will not allow any debate on the scheme at next week’s meeting of the full council, claiming it has already been agreed in the budget.

Tory group leader Coun. Peter Jackson said: “It is becoming clear that some Labour councillors are having second thoughts about this vanity project, so the administration cannot risk putting it to the vote.

“The case for leaving a perfectly good headquarters in Morpeth and creating a white elephant in Ashington is so weak they are trying to hide it.

“The need is not proven, and there has been no formal appraisal or structural survey of the existing County Hall.”

He claimed that the latest calculations on the cost of a new build County Hall in Ashington would be £63.7m over a 25 year period, and would be significantly more expensive that updating the existing County Hall.

Fellow Tory Coun. Richard Dodd, of Ogle, asked: “What are Labour scared of? They have the independents in their pockets - or are there some Labour doubters?”

However, a spokesman for the Labour group said: “It’s a shame the Tories continue to misrepresent the move from County Hall.

“When Labour were elected in 2013 we promised to return council services to the market towns and under these proposals the council will save money and boost nine market towns across the county.

“Why do they want to deny market towns like Hexham, Alnwick and Berwick new jobs? We can only assume they want to continue to oppose and are only interested in pitting communities against communities.

“The truth is they’re quiet when the Tory government cuts council budgets and raids tax credits so why would they want to campaign to stop a Labour administration keeping its promises, saving money and boosting the county economy?

“Maybe Northumberland Tories could answer those questions?”

The Labour administration insists the move to Ashington will save the council £16m over the next 25 years.

The ‘invest to save’ proposals, for a smaller and more efficient headquarters, were agreed by Northumberland County Council’s cabinet and form part of the council’s wider plans to regenerate the county and bring services closer to residents.

The proposed HQ in the town centre, will accommodate more than 900 workstations over five storeys and bring in staff already based in seven different buildings in Ashington.

The detailed specification for the new County Hall includes a new customer service centre, cafe, meeting rooms, workspaces and an innovative council chamber which could double as a community theatre or conference hall.

The administration maintains the overall costs to the council over the next 25 years of a new build in Ashington would be £38.54m, compared to £54.25m for staying at County Hall and modernising the buildings – a total saving of £15.71m or £630,000 a year.

Ultimately the cost will be financed through the sale of the Morpeth site; savings from disposing of several buildings in Ashington and the reduced running costs of the new site.

The projected long-term economic benefit for the area of a move could be as much as £89m.

The move will be considered by full council in February next year as part of its budget discussions and construction could start as early as August 2016 with staff moving in by September 2018.

It would also allow the authority to progress with ambitious proposals which could see the current County Hall site being developed for new state of the art school buildings on the same site as a new leisure centre - which would have the shared use of the public and students.

Initial estimates for a possible build cost of around £50m on the current County Hall site could bring up to £187m into the local economy.

Council leader Coun Grant Davey said: “This is a welcome milestone and brings us a step closer to our aim of reinvigorating towns across the county.

“We have always stressed these proposals for a new HQ are only a part of a much wider regeneration strategy, with the authority ensuring it does all it can to drive and encourage growth in all market towns.

“I hope these exciting and forward thinking proposals will have widespread support when they come before full council next year.”