Up to �200,000 worth of urgent work is set to begin at North Norfolk District Council's (NNDC) headquarters to ensure the building complies with latest health and safety rules.

NNDC's cabinet agreed this morning to recommend to the full council that work is carried out on the most pressing repair and maintenance jobs at the landmark building, on Holt Road, Cromer.

The cabinet recommendation follows a consultants' structural report on the 20-year-old building which has reached an age when much of the original plant and equipment is at the end of its life expectancy.

The report highlights a number of top priority jobs which pose immediate health and safety problems. They include �93,000 to redesign and replace emergency lighting, �50,000 to replace the fire alarm system and �20,000 to review and improve fire exits.

Wyndham Northam, whose portfolio includes corporate assets, said the health and welfare of staff on council premises was of utmost importance and the council would be failing in its duty if it didn't agree to the work being done.

But Graham Jones said the sums seemed high and questioned whether all the expenditure was necessary in the current economic climate.

Council leader Helen Eales said savings could probably be made on the consultants' figures and they were also looking at the possibility of closing an annexe which costs �24,000 pa to run. The three staff members who worked there could probably be accommodated in the main building.