Council gives green light for Knowle exit
East Devon District Council WILL be moving out of its ageing offices at Sidmouth for purpose-built and modernised accommodation at Honiton and Exmouth respectively.
After a lengthy debate last night (Wednesday 25 March) Full Council voted by a significant majority that the authority should sell its Knowle headquarters in Sidmouth and move to the dual-site solution at Honiton and Exmouth.
This vote formally gives the green light for officers to proceed towards concluding the council’s long-standing Moving and Improving project, with an estimated delivery date of mid 2017.
The decision by Full Council follows votes in favour of relocation by Cabinet on 11 March and strong endorsement of the proposals by meetings of Overview & Scrutiny and Audit & Governance committees on 12 March.
Evidence supporting the case for a move has been building for some years as the project team and a senior-level working party compared the options of staying at Knowle or moving.
The costs of heating, maintaining and repairing Knowle and converting it to accommodation suitable fit for new ways of working are high – and would mean spending money on an asset with no value.
By contrast, the dual-site option of purpose-built offices at Honiton and refurbished accommodation at Exmouth Town Hall ticks all the right boxes in terms of location, suitability for agile working, greater resilience and future-proofing against challenges that lie ahead – not least of which is continuing budgetary pressures.
In last night’s vote, Members accepted recommendations in a report to Cabinet from Deputy Chief Executive Richard Cohen seeking permission to progress with the sale of the Knowle development site for between seven and eight million pounds. The exact figure remains commercially confidential at the request of the would-be buyer.
The report explains that figures supporting the case for a move have been modelled in co-operation with the council’s independent external auditors, Grant Thornton. Internal auditors the South West Audit Partnership have also examined the project’s governance and process.
The proposed buyer of the development site at Knowle is Pegasus Life Ltd., a specialist provider of residential developments offering retirement and assisted living facilities. The developer would be buying 1.8856 hectares of land, including the area currently occupied by buildings and tarmac car parks.
Full Council agreed with Cabinet’s recommendation that the 3.5196 hectares (86%) of parkland, which includes the lower ‘grasscrete’ car park, would be offered to Sidmouth Town Council to own and manage, with a covenant against any future development of this land.
The capital, borrowing and running costs of relocation are published in the report and comparisons are made with the equivalent costs that would be incurred in remaining on the Knowle site, making a strong case in favour of the move. In addition to the selling price of the development site, the council would need to find just over two million pounds through prudential borrowing* from the Public Works Loan Board over a loan period of 20 years.
Critically, the calculations verified by external auditors show that in each year after the move takes place, the savings in operating costs in moving to purpose-built offices in Honiton and refurbished space in Exmouth would exceed the loan repayments. Each year, the amount saved would increase and, after the loan has been repaid, the savings would continue on.
Fundamental to the move is EDDC’s desire to move away from traditional working practices that are both expensive and wasteful. Investing in the working environment, technology, business processes and flexible working practices will realise the benefits of lower operating costs, high productivity and better services for our residents.
The council’s Worksmart approach will help it to move away from traditional ways of desk-bound working. New ways of working mean that increasingly work will take place at the most effective locations respecting the needs of the task, the customer, the individual and the team. Properly equipped mobile officers will be able to operate more efficiently; the use of surgeries across the district will continue to manage local demand; and an improving website, plus other applications, will offer a greater number of online transactional services.
Full Council heard that costings calculated by the project team support the case for a move. The most cost-effective option is to refurbish Exmouth Town Hall and a new-build office at Honiton Heathpark. Options of Honiton alone and combined with Exmouth are all more cost-effective than staying at Knowle with ‘do minimum’ investment, let alone any significant modernisation.
Over the 20-year period the district will be £2.8m better off if the Council moves. This compares with being £3.9m worse off by staying and carrying out ‘do minimum’ investment works at Knowle.
Commenting on the decision to confirm the move, Councillor Paul Diviani, Leader of EDDC, said: “I’m pleased that we can give the residents of East Devon, many of whom will be voting in district elections on 7 May, a clear and transparent picture of our intentions after many years of careful consideration and fine-tuning to find the most effective solution. Whilst this approach has been prudent, it has inevitably caused uncertainty for our towns and especially for our employees.
“This project is all about giving our residents, businesses and visitors the best possible service at the least possible cost. We know there is more austerity on the way and that our council – like others up and down the country – has to find more and more creative ways of saving costs and becoming more efficient. Our customers want good service without hikes in council tax.
“How strange would it be for our residents to see us making piecemeal changes here and there to save relatively small amounts of money in each service, whilst pouring scarce funds into an unsuitable building that will have no value? By thinking ahead – and outside the box – we have given ourselves the chance of moving to accommodation that supports modern working practices, will reduce operating costs and will prove an investment for the future.
“This has been described by some cynics as a vanity project. It’s not – it’s a sanity project!
“I’m delighted that my fellow councillors have decided to grasp this fantastic opportunity and I now feel confident that we will be able to continue giving our customers the service they deserve, at a price they can afford”.
The report to Cabinet can be viewed online here.
