To the frustration of many residents, Council offices remain largely empty, three years on from the pandemic.
Cllr Barnett this week found a whole floor of desks sitting empty at Hove Town Hall on a normal working day. The Council continues to have its staff work from home. Some Departments at the City Council only have one day a month when staff are required to attend in person – and that is only for a morning meeting.
Overall, Brighton and Hove City Council is one of the last Councils in the UK to open back up again after the pandemic and has not returned to anything like its pre-pandemic pattern of working.
As time goes on it seems less and less likely that Council staff will ever return. The Greens and Labour have refused to reopen face-to-face services and voted many times for Council services to be remote from now on - and for staff to continue working from home. They want to run a remote council.
In that case, should taxpayers be paying for the cost of maintaining and heating all these empty offices?
This is a question that the Conservative Councillors will be putting forward this week at the Full Council meeting, when Cllr Alistair McNair and Cllr Samer Bagaeen bring forward a Notice of Motion
With the City Council’s finances in such a mess after some terrible decision-making over recent years (not least on public toilets and housing repairs), the Council finds itself in position of needing to find savings to balance its books.
With City Council buildings now significantly underutilised and swathes of desks at the Town Hall empty, is the Council wasting valuable taxpayers’ money?
Brighton and Hove City Council operates several large office sites, including at Bartholemew House, Norton Road and a large Housing Centre in Moulsecoomb.
The Conservatives are calling for a report containing a cost-benefit analysis of physically downsizing the City Council, that includes the Current occupancy of Council buildings, that includes the proportion of council staff working from home and the potential benefit, including by leasing empty office space or selling unneeded premises.
The motion is being brought forward by Conservative Finance Spokesperson Alistair McNair and Cllr Samer Bagaeen.
Cllr McNair will say that Town Halls should be, and often are the beating heart of civic life in the community. But they can only be that heart if staff are working there and residents can go there, are drawn there even, as tourists often are, to receive help and support. Both Greens and Labour have made it clear they support the current policy of staff working from home. As a result, our town halls are empty and lifeless.
The council seems to have forgotten the importance of its buildings acting as meeting places. Residents frequently complain that they cannot access help, they cannot see anyone, even speak to staff on the phone, and are asked to fill in forms or email in their complaints. Even the customer service centres are open only to those that ‘need support’ or ‘don’t have access to a computer’ - intentionally trying to put people off visiting in person.
With the budget under pressure, we have a duty to ensure our buildings represent good value for money. But this Notice of Motion is not only about saving or earning money - it is about restoring our council buildings’ civic value. If other community groups or local businesses can provide services within council premises, appreciate the importance of people coming together to resolve issues, can offer that sense of community currently sorely lacking, a cost-benefit analysis should be explored.
Cllr Bagaeen will point to some examples from other Councils who have made decisions regarding their council buildings.
At the end of 2021, Tumbridge Wells council took pre-emptive action and approved a £5 million budget to convert the town hall so other companies can use the building. Under this arrangement, Council staff would use approximately one third of the building with the rest rented out. This is a clever way for a council to use its assets to generate income. In 2022, city councillors in Canterbury agreed to move the council’s offices into vacant space within a shopping centre in Canterbury, after considering its buildings bigger than needed and energy inefficient.
We have asked for space utilisation values in Hove Town Hall and other council buildings as we believe the central and well-connected location of our estate would mean it could be put into productive uses, such as co-working spaces, to generate much needed revenue. This is the time for creative and fresh thinking and we believe out Notice of Motion will enable us to look into options.
Is the Council delivering value for money for taxpayers? Certainly not by maintaining lifeless empty offices in the City Centre.
