A POPULAR skills centre could be sold off for housing if a proposal to change its use is given the go-ahead.

The fate of the Redi Centre should be decided once and for all at a crunch Redditch Council meeting on Monday.

The Smallwood centre has been the subject of a shake-up twice in one year and in September, staff were warned they could lose their jobs and services could be cut.

The move prompted outrage from centre users and an action group was set up to try to save it.

But the following month, the council agreed to fund the centre for a year while funding routes to ensure its future were explored by an all-party overview and scrutiny committee.

An independent consultant was appointed to come up with a list of options and the preferred final proposal, to change the use of the centre, will be debated in public on Monday.

In a report, consultant David Hitchen states: "The final option for the centre could be a complete change of use to release its asset value, such as developing it into a community centre or a disabled education centre, offering it for office and business use or selling it for residential development."

In his conclusion, Mr Hitchen adds: "This option would see the end of the centre in its current form but it may have to be taken into consideration if other options are deemed unfeasible.

"The building could have a viable future with an alternative use.

"Other local providers elsewhere in the town could deliver much of the current Redi training programme and at no direct cost to the council.

"This could be co-ordinated through the Redditch Lifelong Learning Network."