Agenda item

Report of the Cabinet Member Corporate Services

The Cabinet Member Corporate Services introduced the report which set out the options for the Municipal Offices.   The starting point would be to assess the needs of the workforce acknowledging the need for flexibility and the ability to be in a position to make use of modern ICT facilities. The next step would be to look at the options available for satisfying these needs. Options for the Municipal Offices would also be looked at. The council would not want to make major investment in the current building if there was the potential of moving out in the future and hence the need for a time frame for the review to be established.   He acknowledged the importance of the council offices being in a town centre location, where it was easy for local people to engage with the council, and he would not want to see this facility lost. The option of purpose-built offices had already been ruled out. He explained that he would position the exempt appendix as an outlines options paper and he was seeking Cabinet approval for exploring the options in more detail. In order to make these points clear he proposed a number of amendments to the recommendations which were circulated.

It was noted that the covering report should refer to Appendix 2 – the exempt appendix rather than Appendix 1 which was the risk assessment. Appendix 2 was exempt because of the financial information it contained and the comments on other buildings in the town.

The Cabinet Member Sustainability felt the 12 to 18 months timescale was appropriate and in the meantime the council should be looking at exploring the options for freeing up some of the unused space either vertically or horizontally. He felt it was right that the option of a purpose-built office had been ruled out at this stage as there was already a huge amount of empty office space in the town which could be adapted for council use.

The Cabinet Member Sport and Culture welcomed the revised recommendation which noted that the details in the exempt appendix were purely indicative.  In his view the appendix was flawed and should not have been presented with the report. Any accommodation strategy must start from an assessment of the current position and a review of how the existing offices could be made fit for purpose. It was important that there were no preconceived ideas at this stage.

The Cabinet Member Housing and Safety had similar reservations about the exempt appendix and felt it was important to be impartial at this stage. She reminded members that Civic Pride had set out to improve the space behind the building and their plans may be restricted if the council remains in the offices. Therefore this should be a key consideration. She also suggested that the public would expect capital savings as well as ongoing maintenance savings if the council was to dispose of the building and move into a cheaper alternative. She felt a clear vision was needed for the alternative uses of the building and she questioned whether the basement and ground floor of the offices would lend themselves to a boutique hotel//retail usage.

The Cabinet Member Built Environment suggested that the public had viewed the suggestion of purpose-built offices in North Place as a vanity project. The suggested review of the accommodation strategy was a necessity particularly in view of the unused parts of the current offices. There were links to the town centre regeneration but they were not key drivers as the review should be driven by the accommodation needs of the council.

The Cabinet Member Finance and Community Development was keen to stress that the exempt appendix presented was not an accommodation strategy but purely a preliminary options report giving additional information. He wished to make it clear that in supporting the recommendations, the Cabinet was not supporting any conclusions in the exempt appendix.

The Cabinet Member Corporate Services could not accept that the exempt appendix was flawed and any figures could be qualified but were high-level at this stage. Any capital savings could only be considered once more details were known and alternative uses of the building should be driven by the market.

RESOLVED that:

1.      The Head of Property and Asset Management be provided with a remit:

a.      to engage in dialogue with owners or agents of suitable town centre office buildings

1. 2. to explore in more detail the feasibility of relocating to a suitable town centre alternative.
   3. To consider the option of reducing the space taken up by Cheltenham Borough Council (CBC) in the Municipal Offices by exploring vertical separation of the Municipal Offices.
   4. To explore the possibility of CBC building on the back of the current Municipal Offices
2. It be noted that all the details in the exempt appendix are purely indicative so can give no preferred option at this stage
   
   
3. Any future CBC offices will remain in the town centre
   
   
4. Any move out of the current offices will only happen if it saves money
   
   
5. CBC will not move out to its own purpose-built office
   
   
6. A report be brought back to Cabinet in 12 – 18 months upon the conclusion of the review.