The major refurbishment scheme planned for Abergavenny town centre prior to the arrival of the National Eisteddfod next summer is likely to cost between £700,000 and £1m.

The proposal is to take the money from the £3,433,000 released when Monmouthshire County Council decided earlier this year not to build a new library in the town.

Reallocating money previously earmarked for the library is likely to prove highly controversial and some critics are already describing the refurbishment as ‘a rush job, with very little consultation’.

At its meeting on Wednesday (Dec 2) MCC’s cabinet was asked to consider - and recommend to full council - a revised 2015/16 capital budget to cover, among other things, the town centre scheme and various works at Usk council HQ costing £1,100,000.

It was pointed out in a report to cabinet that when the council decided not to proceed with the building of a new library in Abergavenny it also anticipated that recommendations would be forthcoming for capital budgets for improvements to public spaces in the town centre and the creation of a community hub.

While work has since progressed on both projects, in order to complete the design and undertake the works to improve the town centre prior to the Eisteddfod, the contract needs to be let by the end of this month.

Meetings have been held with Team Abergavenny to discuss the design and extent of the works. The project has also been tendered and a preferred contractor selected, although the letting of the contract awaits capital budget approval.

The scheme includes new surfaces to the highway and public open spaces along with new street furniture and infrastructure for services such as electricity points and public wifi.

The report said options to limit the extent of the scheme were available, such as simplifying the surface finishes and introducing cheaper street furniture, should members wish to reduce the budget commitment. But anything under £700,000 would render the scheme ‘unviable’.

The report explained that, while a budget had been allocated in the 2014/15 highways capital budget to undertake refurbishment works to the pedestrianised area in Abergavenny this money had been redirected to repairing roads following landslips in the winter.

The report added that the location for the community hub in Abergavenny was still being developed and any recommendations to create a capital budget for this would be the subject of a separate report.

The recommendation was for the cost of the town centre refurbishments to be split over 2015/16 and 2016/17 by £450,000 and £600,000 respectively.

Cabinet members were also informed that refurbishment and fit out work at an estimated cost of £1,100,000 was required at Usk HQ to allow staff to occupy blocks J and E and to create additional staff parking.

This work would be funded by ‘prudential borrowing’ (£500,000) plus allocating £200,000 from the remaining property maintenance capital budget in 2015/16 and top slicing £400,000 from the same budget in 16/17.

• Recent repairs to Abergavenny’s High Street following gas pipe replacement work will remain covered in tarmac until the regeneration scheme gets underway in the New Year and the whole surface of the street is renewed.

County Councillor Bryan Jones, Monmouthshire’s cabinet member with responsibility for highways operations said, “We’ve received a number of enquiries about the resurfacing of Abergavenny’s High Street with tarmac rather than simply replacing the uniblock paving.

“We understand people’s concerns but we wish to reassure them that the tarmac surface is for the short term only and the regeneration work will be carried out to a high standard.”