COUNCILLORS have attacked the “obscene” cost of repairs at Somerset County Council’s headquarters in Taunton.

Part of County Hall is currently closed for repairs and adaptations costing up to £10M.

The council says the project will allow more of its staff to work County Hall and reduce the need to rent space elsewhere. It also says part of the complex will be sold.

But critics have questioned the spend and whether the council has properly considered selling the whole site and moving elsewhere.

The council expects to spend just over £10M on the project, of which £7.75M was committed in the budget in February, with the remaining £2.5M due to be approved in the new year.

 READ MORE: Plan submitted for £9.9million refurb of County Hall

Claire Lovett, the council’s head of property, commercial and business services, told the council’s policies and place scrutiny committee the authority had “reached a crunch point” where it had to make repairs – especially to the heating system which connects County Hall with Shire Hall.

She added the refurbishment of A block would allow the council to “rationalise and maximise use of assets”, bringing more staff in-house and allowing it to sell off C block.

The project will deliver annual savings of £723,000 by removing the need to hire out other space for staff – including £115,000 a year currently being paid to Taunton Academy to hire offices and training space.

Taunton Deane Borough Council is expected to grant planning permission for the changes to A block’s layout (i.e. not the heating repairs) by January 2019, and all staff will return to the revamped A block by the end of February 2020.

Ms Lovett said the council had considered selling off County Hall and relocating to an out-of-town location, but this was rejected due to the “negative economic impact on the town centre” and the cost of creating a new base.

She said: “We’ve already got a site here which could be better used.

“We have been looking at how we are using the spaces we’ve got, and ensuring that we configure the spaces in a way that makes best use of them.”

Councillor Neil Bloomfield said County Hall was “an awful place to get to” with limited parking, and the council should have taken after South Somerset District Council, whose Yeovil headquarters are on an industrial estate.

He said: “What never ceases to amaze me is that whenever council leaders give bad news of cuts, they’re always standing in front of grand buildings.

“I find it obscene that the option to move out was discarded when we don’t know the value of our own asset. We don’t know the value but we’re prepared to spend £10.5M on it.”

Councillor John Thorne said it was difficult to justify this work in light of cuts to key services which were agreed in September.

He said: “I’m very conscious of how this looks with the public, from the feedback I’ve had so far.

“At a time when people on the Blackdown Hills are going to be isolated because the roads won’t be gritted, it seems we can afford to spend £10M on our own home.”

When asked about the value of the whole site, Ms Lovett could not provide a figure, stating that it “would require specialist input” to give an accurate valuation.

She later clarified that all buildings owned by the council had been internally valued for accounting purposes, but no independent market valuation had been undertaken on County Hall.

Councillor Tessa Munt said: “I cannot believe there has been no valuation of this property. I am staggered, because surely one of the biggest risks to the viability of the premises we use is the potential for going unitary.

“We could end up with no staff here. I just find it absolutely staggering. Unitary could change everything.”

Councillor Mandy Chilcott, who sits on the cabinet, spoke in favour of the changes as a cost-saving measure.

She said: “Either we stop as we are, or we spend the rest of the money to make this building a building that our staff can move into.

“For me personally it feels right to be using our building rather than renting out buildings around the town.”

Councillor Anna Groskop added: “I know that people outside the council will say: ‘You’re spending this on yourselves’. We’re spending it on the future as well. Everything is changing.

“Hindsight is a wonderful thing. If you want a hotel coming in, or hospital staff staying in A block, it will need millions spending on it.”

The council’s cabinet will meet in Taunton at 9:30am on December 19 to discuss the proposal further.