PLANS to move a council service and a library into a leisure centre will cost over £2m and save around £62,000 a year, it has been revealed.

Durham County Council has confirmed its budget for moving Stanley Library and its customer access point into the Lousia Centre at the top of Front Street.

The local authority also hopes to make annual savings in relation to running costs and ongoing maintenance liabilities.

Mary Readman, customer relations manager at Durham County Council, said the move is part of an ongoing strategy looking at council buildings across the county.

It is understood any money made from the sale of the buildings will be used to offset the development and other relocation costs incurred across the county.

Ms Readman said it is also aimed at improving customer access and services for the public.

She said: “The total budget for the overall scheme is just over £2m. This includes the relocation of the customer access point and library and the works to the leisure centre facilities to accommodate these.

“There will be savings from moving both these services into the one venue at the Louisa Centre and the project should increase the number of visitors and potential income as a result of offering a range of services from one building.

“The existing CAP building in Front Street was considered as part of the options appraisal completed before a final decision was made, but due to the constraints of the building, it would not have been possible to meet the Disability Discrimination Act compliance standards required to operate a multi-functional facility.”

Work got underway last month and is expected to take around a year.

The facilities will replace the current gym weights room and squash courts on the second level of the sports centre.

Durham County Councillor Olga Milburn, who represents the Tanfield ward, which covers Stanley town centre, said: “What we will be getting is an accessible building that will be provide better facilities than both the library and the customer access point.

“At the moment the CAP is very nice and is a lovely building but it is not the most accessible place in the world, and to be honest neither is the library.

“Much as we dearly love our library you can stand as long as ten minutes to get across the road.

“People may query the cost but they will be getting a modern facility.”