The largest of the two schemes is a £17m sixth form college, which is being proposed at the site of the town’s central library in Shambles Street.

A £5.3m grant from the government’s Skills Funding Agency will help pay for the scheme, due to be discussed by the council cabinet later this month.

Council Leader Sir Steve Houghton, CBE, said the proposal indicates the sixth form college would have the potential to bring £7.7m into the local economy.

Cabinet members will also be asked to approve a recommendation that the Central Library and a Citizens’ Advice Bureau office are relocated to vacant offices at Wellington House in Wellington Street, which would undergo an extensive refit.

Principal Colin Booth said Barnsley College had secured £5.3m of grant funding from the Skills Funding Agency, with the remainder of the capital investment raised by the college through asset disposal and borrowing.

The target completion date of summer 2015 sets a challenging development schedule, Cabinet members will be told.

Subject to successful negotiations with existing tenants at Shambles Street, this would see the demolition of the central library building and adjoining premises begin next spring.

In a separate move consultant Turner and Townsend and Bond Bryan Architects have both been appointed to work on the development of a £10.8m construction training centre.

The centre is to be built at the Barnsley College’s Honeywell campus and will teach students on 14-16 curriculum courses and Further and Higher Education courses.

Barnsley College will receive an Enhanced Renewal Grant from the Skills Funding Agency, covering a third of the cost of the project.

The planning application for the development will be submitted in January and work is planned to begin in the spring of 2014.