The move will see the council's two headquarters, in Hailsham and Crowborough, merged into a single site at Vicarage Lane.

The current offices will be rebuilt and revamped with a new environmentally-friendly head office up and running by 2012.

The decision to choose an expanded head office at Hailsham will save the jobs of the 235 people who work at Vicarage Lane - and create a further 150 jobs in the town when the bulk of Crowborough's operation is transferred.

Hailsham mayor Ian Haffenden hailed the 'wise and sensible decision' to merge the two offices.

He said, "It recognises that Hailsham is the biggest town in Wealden and that some of the largest housing developments are taking place in the south of the district.

"Many of the staff will use the local services, particularly at lunchtime, so it will help revitalise the town centre.

"The new building could also release some of the existing site for retail development as put forward in the Masterplan.

Council bosses had long been keen to merge its two headquarters into one site. A decision had been expected in January but it was delayed to allow an in-depth study to be carried out.

A cross-party working group of councillors, aided by professional consultants, reviewed the project.

Hellingly district councillor David White, who was on the working group, said the decision to move into a single-site HQ at Hailsham was 'long overdue'.

He told the Gazette, "Given that the majority of the council's staff are already employed in Hailsham, where the council owns land with good accessibility to the town centre, the choice of location was fairly obvious.

"The potential financial savings and the benefits from having a new purpose-built, energy efficient building have been apparent for a long time and will I believe be of long-term advantage to all taxpayers and users of the council's services.

"My only regret is that the decision could have been taken almost a year ago. By delaying, the potential savings have been postponed and the costs increased, not to mention the continuing uncertainty that has been caused to the staff.

"I hope that now a decision has been taken it will be implemented as soon as possible."

The district council said it hoped ditching its office at Crowborough and moving into a single-site HQ would save it £7 million over the next 25 years, or £280,000 a year.

Cllr Bob Standley, Wealden's cabinet member for finance and assets, said, "For too long we have been operating from two headquarters which is an inefficient use of resources especially given rising fuel and energy costs.

"A modern building could be up to 400 per cent more energy efficient than an office built before 1990.

"It will mean the cost of running the council will be much less over a 25-year period than if we carried on with two main offices.

"There is still much work to be done as we seek to finalise the exact location in Vicarage Lane. We intend to keep any disruption to our partners on the Vicarage Lane site, as well as our own council operations, to a minimum."