West Dorset District Council says that by moving from Stratton House, High West Street to purpose-built offices at Charles Street it will be able to protect key services and keep council tax down.
The Council claims:
- It will be cheaper to move than to stay
- The new building would be around half the size of the current campus
- The current buildings are very inefficient and were never designed as offices
- Moving would save around £145,000 a year on heating, lighting, maintenance and other costs
- The current offices don’t allow appropriate access for those with a disability
The cost of the building work is estimated at £10.7 million, rising to £15 million if a new library is included.
More information can be found on the West Dorset District Council website www.dorsetforyou.com.
Objectors say:
- The District Council’s financial case is deeply flawed. For example:
- The building costs it is based on are only estimates. The work hasn’t even been tendered yet, so the costs could be considerably higher
- The council is unlikely to achieve its estimated savings, even though those savings are very, very small as a proportion of its total running costs.
- Stratton House is highly unlikely to sell for the projected price in the current market; it might not even sell at all and would be left standing empty and deteriorating
- The Council has not included some major costs in their calculations, e.g. there is no provision for creating the new park and ride facility for staff; there is no provision for the ‘dowry’ required by the National Trust to take over the Crown Court; there is no provision for the substantial costs involved in moving IT and other equipment, for moving furniture or for fitting out the new offices
- All these and more will add millions to the true cost of new offices.
- There has been no proper public consultation by the Council and they do not have council tax payers’ support for spending this amount of money on new offices
- It will cost every single council tax payer in West Dorset at least an extra £150 a head at a time when most people are struggling to pay their council tax
- The carbon emissions saved in running the new offices will be outweighed by the carbon emissions of the construction process
- The Council has managed in its current buildings for 37 years. Although the staff would have a nicer working environment, there is no obvious benefit to the public of having new Council offices
- It is highly probable that local government will be reorganised in the foreseeable future and the District Council will be abolished. The new offices would then be left as a white elephant