Council to step up disposal of surplus offices

CASH-strapped Angus Council is fast-tracking its plan to reduce the number of its buildings across the county to slash millions from its annual budget.

A little more than a year ago, the local authority unveiled plans to close 32 offices in a bid to trim £5 million in costs.

Councillors have now agreed a revised plan which will see the accelerated integration of some ACCESS offices and libraries across Angus.

Monifieth library will now be fitted out for the service by September 2019 instead of June 2021, Forfar’s library finished by February 2019 instead of June 2020 and Brechin by March 2019 instead of September 2021.

Carnoustie and Montrose libraries will keep their previous schedule to integrate with ACCESS services by August 2017 and May 2018 respectively.

The council said as the work is developed and refined, any additional opportunities to complete the programme more quickly will be taken.

Since last year around 500 staff have taken up agile working — working from home or a “hot desk” — so the council requires less office space.

Work on creating “locality hubs” for backroom staff across departments t o work from fewer buildings in each town will be completed between March 2018 and December 2019.

Six council buildings closed last year — Peasiehill, Park Place, St Drostans, Damacre Centre, Invertay House and Castle Street — which has freed up almost 5,000 square metres of office space.

The council has identified the most likely exit strategy for its buildings when they are no longer required. The assets will either be sold, transferred under a community asset transfer or used for affordable housing.