Stafford Councillors give green light to buy Civic Centre

Members of the borough council gave the green light to buy the Riverside base at a special meeting on Tuesday (March 18).

The four-storey building, which also houses other organisations including NHS services, is currently leased to the council. The lease has more than 50 years left to run and rent is expected to increase during that time.

The council will be able to bid for grants to make the building more environmentally friendly and reduce running costs if it owns the Civic Centre, the authority has said. But the council’s own future in the coming years is uncertain as it faces abolition as part of local government reorganisation plans announced by the national Government in December.

The current two-tier council system in Staffordshire and other parts of England is set to be replaced by unitary authorities. Stafford Borough Council members backed an initial proposal to form a southern Staffordshire authority, covering six current districts and boroughs, at Tuesday’s extraordinary council meeting.

The discussions and decision making on the proposed Civic Centre purchase were held behind closed doors however because of commercial sensitivities. Speaking after the meeting council leader Aidan Godfrey said the lease, which was originally agreed in 1974, tied the council’s hands and would be an expensive burden with council taxpayers footing the bill of unnecessary costs which the authority would have no control over in the future.

He added: “We have looked very closely at the figures to see if purchasing the building was the right thing to do. And our decision was based on investing in the future.

“We want to protect taxpayers’ money and if we were to own the building we would avoid unnecessary costs. We would also be able to bid for investment that will reduce the carbon footprint of the Civic Centre – and help improve its energy efficiency therefore providing a reduction in long-term running costs.”