County Hall could be demolished within a year
COUNTY Hall could be demolished within a year.
Worcestershire County Council’s cabinet has signed off on plans to sell the Spetchley Road site, a process that could be completed within three years.
But the building itself is costing the council millions in business rates and other ongoing costs – as revealed by the Local Democracy Reporting Service in July.
At a cabinet meeting on Thursday, councillors agreed demolition was the way to go.
Adam Kent, leader of the Conservative group on the council, said demolishing County Hall would cost £3m.
“Could I suggest we commence demolition immediately? The money that’s going to be saved could be extremely beneficial to the council.
“I understand the timeline for doing that, if we got on it now, would be something like 35 to 40 weeks, so it’s critically important that we make that decision and say ‘go’.”
Reform’s finance chief Rob Wharton said: “That seems like a perfectly sensible suggestion and I’m happy to go along with it.”
Matt Jenkins, leader of the Green and Independent Alliance group, said the council would be making the land more valuable by demolishing the building.
Construction of County Hall started in 1974 by the newly-formed Hereford and Worcester County Council and it was opened in May 1978 by the Duke of Edinburgh.
It became the home of Worcestershire County Council following boundary changes in 1998 and closed in June 2024 after reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) and legionella bacteria were found in the building.
The council’s former Tory administration spent £390,000 investigating whether a return to the building was feasible before deeming it “surplus to requirements”.
The now Reform-led council has since looked into whether a school could be built on the site.
But Cllr Wharton told Thursday’s meeting: “The feasibility which we promised we would undertake and listen to has now been completed, and clearly identifies that the County Hall site is not suitable for increasing our educational capacity.
“We’ve also seen that we’re able to meet our statutory requirements for educational sufficiency without the need to use this site to build on.”
He said scrutiny by opposition councillors had caused him to “stop and think about the decisions we’re making”.
But he said the council also has a responsibility to deliver a balanced budget, “which is something we currently can’t do”.
Cllr Wharton said the council should push on with the sale of the site due to “the financial reality of where we are as a council”.
“Even as an empty building it is costing in the region of £1.5m per annum or £125,000 per month, so any delay is simply leading to the council tax payers of Worcestershire pouring money down the drain when there is no need to do so.”