OXFORD City Council has announced plans to buy the lease for some of its offices from a pension fund in a bid to make savings.

In a move that will cost £7.5m, the authority is set to buy back the long lease on St Aldate’s Chambers, opposite the Town Hall, from British Airways Pension Trustees Limited (BA) and REEF.

It originally sold the lease to Prudential Assurance Co Ltd in the 1960s. Merton College is the freeholder of the building.

Council deputy leader and executive board member for finance Ed Turner said it had been calculated that buying back the lease would save the council money in the longterm.

He said: “This will mean we save on paying rent, we are not exposed to risk of rents going up and it puts us back in control of the building.

“This building will do more than just wash its own face as an investment for us, so this is very good news.

“It will reduce costs for the taxpayer.”

The deal with BA and REEF came after years of negotiation, he added, and would help in the battle to cut council spending amid ongoing Government cuts.

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St Aldate’s Chambers is the council’s main office premises.

The four-storey building houses around 500 staff.

A city council report said that BA and REEF had acquired the long leasehold on St Aldate’s Chambers in December 2013, as well as 114-119 St Aldate’s and 4-5 Queen Street.

City council spokesman Chofamba Sithole said the council had sold a long lease for the offices in 1967.

It had been due to expire in 2037.

Mr Turner said one of the main reasons the authority wanted to buy it back was because it was due for a rent review in 2023.

At the moment it pays £300,091 per year as the occupational leaseholder, but council officers warned that could rise to £450,000 per year.

The purchase will cost £7.2m but the council must also pay acquisition costs of £339,230.

The council’s executive board will discuss the proposal at a meeting on Thursday in the Town Hall.

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