A big talking point from today’s meeting of Aberdeenshire Council is where should our HQ be located.
To cut a long story short, by a large majority councillors voted to go forward with new council offices in Inverurie to house staff from Gordon House and from Woodhill House in Aberdeen. I did not vote for that.
It was also agreed to explore options for consolidating existing offices in Ellon into one building, and similarly to explore options for refurbishing and expanding the offices in Stonehaven at Viewmount and Carlton House.
Officers are also instructed to negotiate to acquire Harlaw Park (the Locos’ ground) to provide an option to facilitate a public sector hub. In plain language that means any new council offices in Inverurie could be shared with other organisations. A masterplan is to be prepared for the Harlaw site.
The meeting was assured by business services director Ritchie Johnson that final approval will still be required at the conclusion of the negotiations.
We were told that there could be significant savings and increased efficiencies from the moves. It was estimated that it could save £445,000 a year in revenue costs, including repayments on loans to pay for the new buildings.
Gordon House in Inverurie is apparently coming to the end of its days, and something needs to be done. This was seen as an opportunity to combine with Woodhill House in new premises. However there would be 45% less office space than at present. Woodhill House is not at capacity, and to be economically viable ideally the council should rent out the top floor of Woodhill House. That has proven difficult since Grampian Police moved out.
One of my concerns is that much is made of the fact that Woodhilll House is in Aberdeen. Aberdeenshire Council is the only local authority to have its headquarters outwith its boundary. Frankly, that doesn’t bother me. Aberdeenshire inherited the premises from Grampian Region, having bought out Aberdeen City Council and The Moray Council. It is central, and has good transport links. It is the quality of the service to residents that counts, not where it is located. There are also more than 800 staff to be considered. Plus moving to Inverurie takes the HQ further away from the people I represent in North Kincardine. I also made the point that it is as logical to remove “Aberdeen” from the name of the council as it is to move the HQ just because its in Aberdeen. Mind you the people of Kincardineshire and Banffshire might like that!
So we had a voted, with 50 in favour of pressing on. I could not support that, but neither could I back an amendment which would only take forward the Ellon and Stonehaven options, leaving Gordon House in limbo.
There is plenty of information in the reports on how these changes will take place, but precious little on the why. I would rather see efficient use made of Woodhill House. If all were to go to plan all the changes could be completed by 2021.
As the project progresses there will be reports at key stages on the implementation of the timetable, with scrutiny from councillors. At those points it would be possible to change course. I’ll be watching!
Here is the technical bit, the motion and the voting record:
Councillor Thomson, seconded by Councillor Gifford, moved approval of the recommendations in the report and the additional recommendation 1.7 to instruct officers to bring forward a timetable, to be considered by the Working Group, to demonstrate a staged implementation plan, scrutiny and reporting mechanisms for each part of the process.
As an amendment, Councillor Tait, seconded by Councillor Agnew, moved that the Council take no further action to move the headquarters to Inverurie, in effect rejecting all the recommendations in the report except 1.1.1 and 1.1.2.
The members of the Council voted:-
for the motion (50) Councillors Aitchison, A J Allan, A M Allan, Argyle, Bellarby, Blackett, C C Buchan, Cassie, Chapman, Christie, C Clark, G J Clark, K L Clark, L Clark, Cowling, Cullinane, Davidson, Duncan, Evison, Findlater, Ford, Gifford, Grant, Hendry, Hood, Howatson, Ingleby, Ingram, Johnston, Latham, Lonchay, McKail, McRae, Merson, Owen, Petrie, Pirie, Pratt, Robertson, Shand, N J Smith, S W Smith, M M Stewart, B H Stuart, I W Taylor, Thomson, Topping, Vernal, Walker and Webster.
for the amendment (4) Councillors Agnew, Carr, Nelson and Tait.
declined to vote (2) Councillors Mollison and D Stewart.
absent from the vote (6) Councillors Bews, Cox, Dick, Gardiner, Roy and Watt.
The motion was carried.
If you wish more information, click on this link and scroll down to item 10 on the agenda. The pdf has the paper presented to councillors. http://committees.aberdeenshire.gov.uk/committees.aspx?commid=1&meetid=18343
I think it would be a great waste of a building if Woodhill House were to be bulldozed to make way for house / hotel etc. It is a purpose built building for local government offices and chambers.
Building in Inverurie would I suspect be very expensive and come the next local government re-organisation (rest assured there will be one!) it could be nothing but a white elephant stuck out in Inverurie.
Aberdeen is a hub to all parts of Aberdeenshire, Inverurie is not!
That’s my thinking too! There is such a question mark over the future of local government with talk of regional education boards, and roads being the responsibility of Transport Scotland. Councils have already lost responsibility for policing, fire services and water. What next? However I am in a small minority of councillors who remain to be convinced this is a good thing.