Work is finally due to begin on a £5.6m restoration of Newbridge Memorial Hall and Institute.
There had been cash flow problems with the project but Caerphilly County Borough Council has agreed to pay invoices upfront on behalf of the project so that building can start.
The agreement with the council, signed last week, means that six first floor windows in the Institute can be replaced before work begins on the roof.
£4.1m in funding for the project from GAVO, the Coalfields Regeneration Trust, Cadw, the Welsh Assembly Government and the European Union, will be paid back to the council as and when they come in.
The council has also agreed for its staff to work alongside the trustees of the Memo to prepare a 25 year lease to assist with the relocation of Newbridge Library to the Celynen Colliery Institute building.
The proposed library relocation would form part of the initial phase of works on Celynen Collieries Institute and Memorial Hall.
A report will be presented to the council’s cabinet for approval once the details of the lease and financial implications of the new library have been finalised.
The restoration work on the Grade II listed Memo and adjoining Institute will see them turned into Community facilities.
Opened in 1908 the Institute included a billiards room, an extensive library, committee room and reading room stocked with daily newspapers and journals.
Constructed in 1924 as a lasting memorial to local servicemen who lost their lives during World War One the Memorial Hall provided a ballroom and cinema and quickly became fondly known as the ‘Memo’.
In other developments for the Newbridge town regeneration project, the council has also agreed to match-funding for the Newbridge Partnership to carry out improvement works at Parry Square.
The scheme will see enhancement works to the existing hard landscaped area, including new paving, kerbs and ornamental bollards.
Back in February 2002, the cabinet approved the ring fencing of the capital receipts from the sale of land at the Newbridge ‘gateway’ site, to support bids by members of the Newbridge Partnership to implement the Newbridge Action Plan.