The two new-build starter homes – designed to get first-time buyers on the property ladder – will be specially converted into one unit for the council's new headquarters, costing £250,000.

The council intends to get the equivalent of a mortgage from the Public Works Loan Board towards the cost, which will be repaid over a period of 30 years.

But Bridlington residents will have to fund the mortgage payments as part of their Council Tax.

Town council clerk Chris Smith said: "Annual costs will be the equivalent of £1.24 on a band D property."

But it is not clear if Council Tax bills would go up to fund the move, or whether the current amount residents pay for the council would be sufficient.

Members of the town council approved the plan at its meeting on Tuesday.

The houses are part of a new L-shaped development of 12 homes called Richmond Court, on the site of the former Richardson Ford garage on the corner of Hilderthorpe Road and Hamilton Road, in Bridlington.

The developers will build the two homes, which will be on the front corner of the site, according to the council's specifications for use as one unit.

It will include a reception area, office for the clerk and a committee room which the council also intends to let as a meeting room for other organisations.

Full council meetings will continue to be held at Bridlington Town Hall.

It will also include a lift, disabled toilets and better disabled access.

The reason for the move from its second floor, two-room office in the Community Resource Centre in Victoria Road is lack of space.

Mr Smith said: "We have got to the point where we have no elbow room here. For example, the planning meetings are held in my office and if members of the public want to attend there is just not space for them.

"Things are getting much busier here, there is also no storage space."

He said the search for new premises had been going on for some time and a working party of three councillors had come up with the present solution.

"The property, should the council decide to move on, can be easily returned to domestic accommodation and the council will then have an asset.

"Members also felt that being in Hilderthorpe Road, which is set to be one of the main entrance routes to the town under regeneration plans, would be a good place to be," said Mr Smith.

The new offices should be ready for the town council to move in before the end of this year.

The town council had also looked at several other possible properties in the past, the most recent being one in King Street which had proved unsatisfactory.

In 2002 the council got into hot water over an idea to buy a two-bedroom bungalow in Station Avenue, on the market for £129,000, for its offices. After residents objected, the council ditched the idea.

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