A COUNCIL has put announced plans to spend around £330,000 as the first part of much-needed repairs and upgrades to its Civic Centre.

Wychavon District Council has put forward proposals for a £250,000 upgrade to the almost 30-year-old Civic Centre in Queen Elizabeth Drive in Pershore by moving its CCTV monitoring room, building a new business hub and replacing outdated lighting and windows as well as spending £80,000 on new carpet.

The council has said this is just the first stage of repairs and further work will need to take place in the future but cannot currently fit it into its budget.

The move to high definition (HD) digital CCTV cameras and replacing outdated, incompatible and broken equipment would cost around £121,000.

A third of video recording equipment is broken, according to the council.

West Mercia Police and Crime Commissioner John Campion has contributed £50,000 for the CCTV upgrade.

The council has also said it will spend around £80,000 in the next three years replacing 4,000 square metres of ageing carpet, £24,000 replacing ten windows and £12,000 fixing rotten floors, broken cupboards and broken water heaters in six of its kitchens.

The council wants to add an extra £50,000 to the budget for the new Wychavon Business Hub to pay for new offices the council would lose.

The hub, which already has a budget of £100,000, would be built within the Civic Centre so it could be accessed easily at the weekend.

If the money is approved, the council would make improvements to its 'tired' creche at a cost of £15,000.

The council said it hopes to claw some of the money back by charging higher rent in the future.

The council also wants to add an extra shower to cope with the demand of more people cycling to work at a cost of around £8,000.

Wychavon District Council's executive committee meets on Wednesday (September 18) to discuss the plans.