A DETERIORATING school building will be given a lifeline after £56,000 worth of health and safety works were approved so it can be turned into a community hub.

But the county council's cabinet member for education Cllr Liz Hacket Pain asked Debra Hill-Howells, estates and sustainability manager if she was quite sure Park Street Primary School was safe to hand over.

That's because the council cannot face being liable for any extra costs as it faces making £9m of cuts in its next budget.

Cabinet's Phil Hobson said the worst case scenario of the public using an unsafe old building is potentially "tragic" and could result in death.

"If we are going to lease buildings they are going to have to be legally safe," he added.

Independent leader Simon Howarth said: "The fabric of the building is deteriorating. It is looking really sad at the moment."

Abergavenny Community Centre Ltd secured a 25-year lease from the council for Park Street with plans to use the site as a centre teaching well-being, a social hub and place to hold activities such as a crèche, drop-in café, luncheon club for pensioners, workshops and support for young people and parents.

But the transfer has been held up because of a legal requirement to carry out a number of safety checks costing £56,000 and for the removal of asbestos beforehand.

As landlord, the council is required to undertake a number of health and safety surveys and remedial works prior to occupation.

This identified the need to install a new fire alarm, emergency lighting, electrical faults and a means of escape.

The council has spent around £20,100 to date removing the deteriorating demountable buildings and dealing with urgent issues and security breaches at the school, which closed in 2006 following the biggest shake-up of primary education ever seen in Monmouthshire.

Cabinet members agreed to vary the property maintenance capital programme by funding the works from the schools kitchen maintenance budget.