Councillors lavish tens deluxe town hall HQs

PROTEST: A proposal by Durham County Council to build this new riverside HQ has been greeted by legal action

hard-pressed authority £900,000 in wages as it battled to slash spending by more than £14million.

A council spokesman said: “Moving the council’s HQ from six acres of prime real estate in central Cambridge, even after the costs of the new and smaller building are taken into account, represents a saving in the region of £46million over the next 30 years, all of which will be re-invested in our frontline services.”

Councillors in East Devon will begin settling into their new £8.7million HQ in Honiton tomorrow in what they claim will be a move that saves taxpayers’ up to £6million over 20 years – because their old base in Sidmouth needed huge sums for repairs and running costs.

One of the first decisions to be made in the gleaming new council chamber will be to rubber stamp a planned hefty council tax.

In a statement the council said: “Our new headquarters, less than half the size of our old HQ, will save us significant sums in energy and other utility usage and help fund our capital programme.” 3.7 per cent rise in THIS year the average household will pay over five per cent more in council tax than in 2018, more than double the current forecast inflation rate of 2.4 per cent.

Councils have been pleading poverty for years, insisting they need more money for essential services. That councils are spending such huge amounts on new offices for themselves while they slash local services and raise taxes is insulting.

Council tax is one of the biggest outgoings for any household.

Taxpayers want to see their hard-earned money spent on essential services, not shiny new offices for council bureaucrats.