Speaker urges building vote

The proposed assembly building has caused controversy

The presiding officer of the Welsh Assembly, Lord Dafydd Elis-Thomas is calling for an free vote in the assembly over whether a new debating chamber should be built.

After a meeting with the architect Lord Richard Rogers he said he felt enough time had passed for a decision to be made.

Lord Rogers again expressed his frustration with the present impasse and said a compromise option was not really viable.

He said it was important for the image of a new Wales to build itself a new assembly.

Speaking on BBC Wales's The Point, Lord Rogers warned that a smaller alternative to his design would be more expensive.

He said: "We did look at the possibility of that change and calculated that the cost would be fifty to a hundred per cent more per square metre, because you're adapting an existing site which has got uses already."

He said a smaller building would be an expensive way of doing it, it would mean extra cost and would be inefficient in terms of energy use.

Lord Dafydd Elis-Thomas has called for a vote

He added: "You'd have all the problems of the functions of an old building designed as an office block with a plug-on piece which is the Assembly hall".

The £23m design has been on hold since March when First Secretary Rhodri Morgan decided he needed more time to examine the project's costs.

Since then he has come under fire for stalling the plans. Critics claim the delay is detrimental to the image of Wales.

Lord Elis-Thomas's meeting came a day after the former Prime Minister Lord Callaghan gave his backing for the chamber.

Lord Elis-Thomas is staging the meeting as part of his role in overseeing the implementation of the new building.

He told BBC Wales that it would be his job to look after the building when it was completed.

The review of the plans by Mr Morgan had been the prerogative of the incoming first secretary, he said.

Lord Elis-Thomas said there was no question that the assembly needed a new home.

A small jewel in the heart of the waterfront

Lord Callaghan

Last month Rhodri Morgan met Lord Rogers in London to discuss the plans following a separate meeting at the Hay Literature Festival.

"Every day I work there, I cannot see the members.The whole thing is a mess.

"What attracted me most to Lord Rogers design was a new democratic space in a magnificent setting."

Lord Callaghan said the planned building must go ahead if Cardiff wanted to be seen as a European city.

He said the planned new building would be a 'small jewel in the heart of the waterfront'.

Lord Callaghan : 'Assembly heart of the waterfront'

Lord Rogers told BBC Wales that he hoped his proposed new building did not become a "political football."

He said it "seems a great pity" that the Assembly secretary wanted to "shoe-horn" its future into an unsuitable building.

"It does show, I suppose, a serious lack of confidence in the future, and that is sad," he said.

Lord Rogers has also said he hoped the right decision over the Assembly building would be reached soon.

Speculation that the first secretary might opt for the former Cardiff City Hall as a location has been rejected by Assembly officials.