POOLE’S civic centre could be sold to developers, under new council plans that could save hundreds of thousands of pounds every year.
BCP Council has so far spent £2.534m in operating the civic centre off Municipal Road since April 2019, of which £568k is since the building was emptied of staff in May 2022.
Adam Richens, BCP Council’s director of finance, highlighted in a report that this is increasing by about £19k every month for holding costs.
The same report recommends councillors agree to sell off Poole Civic Centre, with the expectation that the private sector would “bring forward a housing and hotel development proposal”.
If councillors agree, the site could be sold as a whole or sub divided into plots, with the civic centre annexe being sold separately to the remainder of the site.
However, the same report hints the car park could be retained by BCP Council “as income generating assets”.
A report in September 2023, to the then new Lib Dem administration, recommended the sale should go ahead along with the winding down of FuturePlaces.
But the sale part of the recommendation was deferred until this year, to “enable councillors to fully understand the options” for the civic centre.
When FuturePlaces was around, there were plans to turn the civic centre into a boutique hotel, with the rest of the campus being used for around 360 new homes.
A meeting of Poole Charter Trustees back in the summer concluded that the report into Poole Civic Centre's sale, which is used by the trustees, should "go through the democratic process”.
The group also decided that the Guildhall in Market Street could be used as an alternative, with work to ensure the building is fit for purpose being funded from the capital receipt generated from selling the civic centre.
BCP Council’s cabinet is expected to agree to the sale at a meeting next Wednesday, before it is put to full cabinet for approval.
Staff moved out of the historic Grade II listed building in May 2022 as part of the merger of BCP Council.
Since then, much of the money spent in keeping the building has been on “unavoidable” costs such as rates, electricity for fire alarms, security measures, mild levels of heating to protect the pipes against frost and water charges, according to finance cabinet member Mike Cox.
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