ONE of Hexham’s key council buildings could be transformed into eight apartments if a planning application gets the green light.

But, with statutory notices alerting local people to the plans for Hadrian House only published by the county council in the Northumberland Gazette , many Tynedale residents remain unaware of the proposal.

The legal notices relating to the change of use and conversion of the county council-owned building, which has been marketed by Bradley Hall and is currently under offer, appeared in the April 27 edition of the Gazette and have not been published in the Hexham Courant .

The controversial decision by the council’s chief executive, Steven Mason, to place all notices relating to the Tynedale area in the Alnwick-based Gazette has attracted widespread criticism from the community, local councillors and even the Secretary of State, Sajid Javid.

Now the Mayor of Hexham, Coun. Trevor Cessford, has slammed the situation as “ridiculous”.

“Like many local people, the town council wants to see this building in use and brought back to life, but how the general public are getting to know about what is planned I have no idea,” he said.

“It’s ridiculous to expect someone in this part of the world to seek out a copy of the Northumberland Gazette – which nobody buys here, let’s face it – to find out crucial information like this.

“People may want to make a comment. It’s a prominent site.”

Kirkwhelpington-based applicant Properties (South Tyneside) Limited has enlisted the help of Gateshead-based Wearmouth Architectural Design to come up with plans for the former office accommodation and registry office space.

Parts of the three-storey, grade II listed structure could be demolished to make way for the transformation into eight two-bed flats.

The plans described the removal of an extension added to the Georgian building, as well as a rear metal fire escape, to improve the visual appearance.

The property was originally a town house before it became a Wesleyan chapel, and then Hexham’s post office, before it became offices for the Department of the Environment in the 1970s.

No additional car parking is proposed but the plans suggest the retention of eight existing cycle spaces.

The response from Hexham Town Council posed no objections to the plan in principle but councillors have raised concerns over the lack of residential parking provision.

An additional listed building consent application relating to the £1.5m conversion of Hexham House into a new register office, two wedding ceremony rooms and seven luxury holiday apartments, has also been submitted.

The listed building consent application, which has not appeared in the Courant , seeks permission for additional work including chimney repairs, ceiling replacements and external wall linings.

The project began in November and is expected to be completed by July.

As for the old swimming pool site on Gilesgate, county council officials confirmed this week that the abandoned building was under offer, with completion ‘expected shortly’.

The site was divided into two lots and marketed by Rook Matthews Sayer last year following a failed £10m bid to transform the site into 45 apartments for the elderly.