MORE than £600,000 has been spent servicing an unoccupied council building over 20 months, the Echo has learned
Maintaining the now abandoned Poole Civic Centre has cost BCP Council £644,000 since the start of the financial year in April 2022.
Staff moved out of the historic Grade II listed building in May 2022 as part of the merger of BCP Council.
The latest bill comes after it was revealed that servicing the council’s other unused civic centre in Christchurch burned through £500,000, it was heard in a meeting last month.
Cllr Mike Cox, the authority's portfolio holder for finance, said the costs have been necessary to keep historic buildings in good condition.
He said: “Of course, we would prefer not to spend money on a building our staff no longer use, but we must maintain a certain level of maintenance on the site as we continue to look at all possible options.
Read more: Christchurch: BCP Council 'wasted' £500k on unused building
“This is a building with Grade II Listed elements, which cannot be demolished. We have a duty to keep these historic parts in good condition.”
Cllr Cox said the spending is made up of “unavoidable” costs such as rates, electricity for fire alarms, security measures, mild levels of heating to protect the pipes against frost and water charges.
“Should cabinet and council authorise the selling of the building to generate funds for our transformation programme, we are better served by having a building to offer that is in a good state,” he added.
As reported, the council is looking to sell Poole Civic Centre after plans proposed by in-house company FuturePlaces to redevelop the building failed.
A spokesperson for the council said: “Early next year we are going to cabinet and council to recommend the disposal of the Poole Civic Centre.
“The sale of this site has been identified as something that can help fund our transformation budget, and therefore ease the financial pressures affecting the running of our vital services.”
The figures for Poole Civic Centre’s bills, obtained via an Echo FOI, reveal £2.47m has been spent on it by BCP Council since its formation in 2019.
In 2019/2020, £651,000 was spent on the civic centre. The following financial year, £557,000 was spent servicing, maintaining and keeping it. In 2021/2022, this figure was £626,000 and in 2022/2023, £232,000.
From April 2023 to November, BCP Council has spent £412,000 – something which Cllr Cox has attributed to a “significant increase in the costs of gas and electricity”.
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