THE New County Hall for Monmouthshire has the potential to 'wreck the finances of the County' if the project is not reconsidered immediately.

 Recently news emerged that the projected costs for the new County Hall at Rhayader, near Usk, had increased from £18m to £25m.  It has emerged that Councillors had a confidential briefing on the project last week, details of which have remained secret.

 However, describing the project as 'unsustainable', Cllr. Phil Hobson, Lib Dem Opposition Leader, said: "The current project will break our backs financially. This is exactly what the Lib Dems warned last year when councillors decided to go for a new big County Hall: we said it was crazy to proceed without a budget and irresponsible to make a decision and sign a blank cheque leaving Council Tax payers to foot a huge bill."

 Council papers suggest that the total bill for the project will be in the region of £25million, with the cash-strapped authority looking to find savings of £2.5 million for next year's budget whilst indicating that it may have to borrow £20 million in total to fund the new headquarters.