LOCAL authority bosses are to ratify funding to begin demolishing areas of County Hall.

Flintshire Council’s cabinet are expect to approve the allocation of capital funding to move forward with the demolition of phases three and four of the nearly 50-year old site in Mold.

The council is preparing a number of pieces of work linked to the Mold campus redevelopment together with the relocation of a large number of its workforce to Unity House in Ewloe.

Cllr Aaron Shotton, leader of Flintshire Council, said while County Hall had “served its purpose effectively for many years” authority bosses were “always going to reach a point” when focus on money saving turned to the council’s current home.

As revealed in the Leader in October last year, annual operating costs for the Mold building currently stand at £1.2m with estimated maintenance costs for the next 25 years predicted to be £26m.

Disposal of the County Hall part of the site to a developer for housing and associated development could raise between £4m and £6m.

Cllr Shotton said: “The project has a number of phases which will see staff relocated to Unity House, in Ewloe, and initially the demolition of phases 3 and 4 which are already empty. This will be followed by a programme of more detailed regeneration work for the whole site and, to achieve this, we will seek a development partner to assist us with the regeneration of the site post demolition of the building.

“This is an exciting time and a complex project which we feel sure will attract the right type of innovative and visionary partners.”

The cabinet are expected to approve the funding during their March meeting on Tuesday.

Cllr Shotton added: “County Hall is an old building which has served its purpose effectively for many years. However, it’s also an expensive building to run and the council needs to look at all the options it has available to it to create efficiencies in this challenging financial climate.

“We have been undertaking a review of our corporate property assets for a while and we were always going to reach a point where our focus and emphasis would turn to County Hall.

“Our proposals for the site are ambitious and the work complex but the outcomes feed into our medium term financial strategy and will ultimately support and protect front line services.”