The Conservatives have pledged to prevent the sale of Portslade Town Hall after a question about the building’s future was ruled out for procedural reasons rather than answered at a council meeting.
Councillor Carol Theobald asked about the building, in Victoria Road, Portslade, when Brighton and Hove City Council met at Hove Town Hall yesterday (Thursday 2 February).
Conservative leader Steve Bell said that his party would fight to stop the sale of Portslade Town Hall, adding: “I was gobsmacked when the Green administration refused to deny they were considering selling off the historic building which has served the residents in and around Portslade for 64 years.”
Today, the council said: “There are no plans to sell Portslade Town Hall.
“In terms of our wider policy, with council budgets under more pressure than ever before, we are keeping the use of our corporate buildings under permanent review.”
In the longer term, the council added: “We are also reviewing options for the future of Brighton and Portslade town halls and our whole operational estate to ensure it reflects any future service delivery changes.”
The Conservatives said: “The historic building first became used as a town hall on Wednesday 2 September 1959, having been bought by the Portslade Urban District Council, which was seeking larger offices.
“The building ceased to be the local seat of government when Portslade was absorbed into the Hove Borough Council in 1974. Hove Borough Council was then absorbed itself into Brighton and Hove Council in 1997.
“The Conservative administration in the city in 2011 provided to funds to refurbish Portslade Town Hall to bring it back into use as a service and community hub for local residents. The refurbishment was funded by the disposal of land near by.
“The newly refurbished Town Hall reopened in in 2014 with new offices for the council’s local housing team and neighbourhood policing team, alongside community facilities with rooms to hire for local groups.
“Residents still access their housing services at Portslade Town Hall today.
“Amid concerns in the community about the administration’s budget, Councillor Carol Theobald asked a question at the full council meeting about whether the council was planning to sell Portslade Town Hall.
“The administration would not confirm or deny whether it was planning to sell the building.”
Councillor Bell said: “The sale of Portslade Town Hall would be a devastating blow for local residents who rely on the town hall on a regular basis for some basic services and so many local groups use the town hall.
“Its community value far outweighs the financial gain this administration is looking to find to offset its failings with its own fiscal management.
“As Conservatives, we will fight to stop the sale of Portslade Town Hall.”
The council said: “There are no plans to sell Portslade Town Hall.
“In terms of our wider policy, with council budgets under more pressure than ever before, we are keeping the use of our corporate buildings under permanent review.
“It is vital that we maximise our chances of making savings while continuing to deliver good quality services.
“We already have a highly successful operational accommodation strategy that relates to the buildings we deliver our services from.
“We are ahead of the curve on this. Over the past 12 years we have consolidated our office accommodation and delivered our ‘Workstyles’ modernisation programme.
“Through our accommodation strategy we have
- reduced our office accommodation by more than 60 per cent
- achieved savings of around £4 million a year
- reduced our carbon footprint by 22 per cent
- moved more than 4,000 staff to more efficient work spaces and
- made more than £30 million in capital receipts
…
“The current accommodation strategy is currently focused on our offices at Hove Town Hall and Bartholomew House in central Brighton.
“In preparation for further reshaping of our offices, the fourth floor of Bartholomew House is now vacant.
“We are planning to vacate the third floor as well and will let both floors out in 2023. We are aiming for new tenants to start to fill the space throughout 2023-24.
“Some services currently in Bartholomew House will relocate to Hove Town Hall and some to other buildings.
“In the longer term, we are looking at the possibility of letting out the second and first floors of Bartholomew House as well.
“We are also reviewing options for the future of Brighton and Portslade Town Halls and our whole operational estate to ensure it reflects any future service delivery changes.”
What hypocrisy.
The other week they were demanding a review and the sell off of underused property.
You can’t have a full review if you immediately take off the table some properties.
When are the local conservatives going to accept their responsibility for the city’s budget being cut by £110 million this year compared to 2010 and £130 million next year. The council is only reacting to Year on year government cuts. As usual there will be Conservative silence.
Jo
They haven’t ‘cut’ the budget by £110 Million this year, it’s £110 Million SINCE 2010, and not even ‘cuts’ it’s been shortfalls.
There was a report from the Green leadership that told us, we get an increase in budget year on year but wasn’t enough to cover the increases.
Absolute hypocrisy from the conservatives. They made a big song and dance about the need to save money with their property less than a week ago and now they oppose doing exactly what they requested. They are absolutely done for at the next local election, suspect we will end up with a majority Labour council for the first time in many years.