MONMOUTHSHIRE county councillors have given their backing to the provision of a new County Headquarters at Usk, The Beacon can reveal.

Informed sources have told us that the authority considered six sites for the new headquarters, to replace the existing office complex at Cwmbran.

The six sites were located in three centres - Usk, Abergavenny and the Chepstow area.

In an amazing snub to Monmouth, which is the county town of Monmouthshire, councillors did not even include it as an option for the new offices, which will be used by something like 480 staff.

A County Council spokesperson said: "Unfortunately there were no sites in or around Monmouth which met the criteria for our new civic building."

We have been told the projected cost of the new building will be £18 million, but that sum will have to be borrowed by the cash strapped authority, so, we have been told, the real cost to county council taxpayers could be more like £40 million before the new HQ is finally paid for.

The Beacon has received the following statement from the County Council:

"In a joint agreement between Monmouthshire County Council and Coleg Gwent, it can be revealed that plans are being proposed to relocate the council's headquarters to the site of the College's Usk Campus. For more on this statement, see the Monmouthshire Beacon issue dated Feb 4th.