In January the Council consolidated its office space moving staff to the basement and ground floor at Shute End.
This has saved on running costs which is good. However, when the plans were announced last year the Council clearly stated it would look to let out the empty space to generate an income.
Nearly a year later the Council has clearly failed in that objective. There has been no success in letting out the space which could bring in an income of £300,000 per annum.
Alternatively, the space could be made available to charities currently using other Council buildings, such as the former Library site, freeing those sites for commercial rent or redevelopment, and therefore generating income for the council.
The Council is sitting on considerable assets which the Liberal Democrat leadership chooses to squander rather than generate income. Instead, the Council repeatedly claims that it must cut residents services because it doesn’t have enough money.
The Liberal Democrats need to stop this woeful mismanagement of Council owned properties and start delivering for local taxpayers.
