Council to consider move from town centre base to cut costs

Scarborough Borough Council is set to become the latest local authority in North Yorkshire to look towards a move to a new headquarters to try to counter escalating maintenance costs and provide a long-term vision for slashing expenditure.

Controversial proposals to move the council’s main base out of the town centre have been mooted for more than a decade, but senior councillors have confirmed that a potential relocation is at its most advanced stage ever.

Councillors were told in January last year that a relocation had been put on the back-burner but the Yorkshire Post disclosed last month that a move is once again a serious possibility, with the empty Scarborough Building Society building in Eastfield a leading contender for the new headquarters.

An accommodation review is expected to be given the go-ahead by the authority’s cabinet on Tuesday next week (SEPT 20), potentially paving the way for the council to vacate the Town Hall.

A decision to move out of the Grade II listed building would bring to an end more than a century of tradition as the property has been a base for the town’s civic services since the turn of the 20th century. It was opened in 1901 by Princess Beatrice of Battenburg, daughter of Queen Victoria, after it had been bought by the then Scarborough Corporation from a leading local businessman, John Woodall.

But the cabinet member for strategic planning and regeneration, Coun Derek Bastiman, admitted the severe financial pressures which the council is facing amid the Government’s funding cuts has heightened the need to look into a dramatic shake-up of the council’s property portfolio.

It is estimated that the maintenance of the council’s buildings will be in the region of £5.8m over the next 25 years. Council officers have warned up to £2.6m needs to be spent over the next two years to maintain a minimum standard of accommodation. A further £1.7m would be needed to finance IT upgrades and a shift to electronic filing systems.

Coun Bastiman said: “We are all acutely aware of what the Government is telling us to save money and become increasingly cost-efficient. The Town Hall offices are an expensive luxury simply because of the age of the building and the need for renovations.

“We need to make sure that any move does not have a detrimental impact on the town centre economy. But the regeneration of Town Hall site is extremely important and could open up the way for a regeneration scheme that would help boost town centre enterprise.

“It is a fine balance between accessing the cost of running the grand old lady that is the Town Hall while making sure we protect Scarborough’s economy. We will be considering all options when looking at a potential relocation.”

The existing St Nicholas Street complex has high heating, lighting, and maintenance costs, but concerns have already been voiced that a relocation out of the town centre would undermine tourism and trade. The deputy leader of the council’s Labour group, Coun Colin Challen, warned last month that a move away from the Town Hall could leave a major question mark hanging over such a key site amid the economic downturn.

The proposed accommodation review in Scarborough comes in the wake of decisions by other local authorities to look to establish more cost-effective headquarters. Harrogate Borough Council is considering a move out of the five main offices it currently occupies, funded by the sale of the buildings. Work is already under way on a new headquarters for York Council at West Offices, which were built in the 1840s as the city’s original railway station and hotel. Centralising the council’s operations is due to bring savings of £17m over the next 25 years.