Housing possibility for Flintshire Council site HQ in Mold

Large parts of County Hall in Mold have been demolished in the last few years, with hundreds of staff relocating to the old Unilever office site in Ewloe.

Work started in 2020 after the council said the facility had become too expensive to run, with operating costs reaching £1.2m per year.

It was revealed in September that any workers still based at Raikes Lane will move out of the remaining buildings by the end of February next year.

A council spokesperson said at the time that they could not comment further on future plans for the site.

The authority's chief executive Neal Cockerton has now told a meeting of councillors held this week that houses could be built in its place following interest from several developers.

However, he warned the land would not just be sold to the highest bidder, as the council looks to realise potential social benefits from its future use.

He said: “We need to be really careful because this is one of our largest remaining sites, and probably one of our most important sites in the county.

“Its location is highly regarded and sought after by a number of developers, and you'd expect them to be interested in this site because of the views.

“There are a number of scenarios that you could model on this site from a complete social housing development, which I personally would support, to high-end five-bedroom houses that others may support.

“Somewhere in between that, there's probably a happy medium.”

Mold law courts will not be moving Mr Cockerton said there are no plans for the law courts based on the site to move.

However, a long term solution will need to be found to heat the court buildings as they currently share a heating system linked to County Hall.

A report presented to members of the council's corporate resources scrutiny on Thursday (October 11, 2024) shows it will cost the council £805,000 to completely vacate the site.

This is expected to be offset by savings achieved by reduced running costs and the future redevelopment of the area.

Mr Cockerton added that the authority was keen to have influence over what happens to the site next.

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Mr Cockerton said: “We could quite easily sit here and just put it out to the highest bidder and lose a degree of control which I don't think is what anybody wants to see.

“As another alternative, we could enter into a joint venture, or we could decide to completely take control of the whole process.

“Further reports need to be brought back to give a degree of clarity. We're not quite there yet, but it's an incredibly exciting point that we've come to.”