Council HQ move leaves 35 staff at stores facing axe

Wincheap firms on brink after crunch vote

A store owner fears he could be forced to shell out £50,000 in redundancy payments after plans to relocate the local authority’s headquarters were given the go-ahead. Councillors voted to approve Canterbury City Council’s proposals to move from its base in Military Road and build state-ofthe-art offices in the Wincheap Industrial Estate. Carpets 4 Less, Bamboo Tiger and Beds 4 Us will be flattened to make way for the multi-million pound HQ - with a total of 35 jobs at risk.

Beds 4 Us managing director Peter Cosgrove said: “It’s very likely the business will be killed off.

“If a site comes up that I can buy rather than rent, then that’d be alright – but it has to be a minimum of 12,000 ft, in a prominent position and affordable. “There are no suitable sites at the moment and I’m on a 15-year-old rent. So a new rent will be double what I’m paying now.”

The demolition of the stores would see 10 jobs lost at Beds 4 Us, 13 at Carpets 4 Less and 12 at Bamboo Tiger.

Mr Cosgrove has already lost a member of staff from his workforce and believes more could follow before his lease comes to an end next year.

“It’s going to be very hard to employ staff on a short-term basis as well to replace them,” he added.

“If I lose one more person from the manufacturing area, I’ll have to shut it down and bring in pre-packaged beds.

“I’d lose the bespoke side of the company, which is half the turnover of my business. There’ll be a massive closing down sale, if it comes to that, and then it’ll be a good £30,000, £40,000 or £50,000 redundancy payments for those who are left.”

Mr Cosgrove believes the local authority should instead have chosen to move to the vacant former Homebase building in the Wincheap Industrial Estate. Wickes is in discussions with the council to take on the site, which has remained empty for more than a year. “They’ve ruled it out because somebody’s after it when there are three shops here with 35 staff, who will be unemployed, between them who have been paying rates for the last 15 years,” said Mr Cosgrove. City council spokesman Leo Whitlock says the option of erecting the offices on the site of the Homebase was ruled out early on in the process as it “generates substantial rental income” when occupied. “As councils become more and more strapped for cash, they are expected to act more and more commercially to bring in money and ease the burden on the council taxpayer,” he added. “But that can mean we are then criticised for being as hard-headed as commercial enterprises and come under to pressure not to maximise the amount of cash we bring in.” The local authority is expecting to submit a planning application for the new offices next year, before moving in 2024.