A COUNCIL is set to approve moving staff in order to free up space, which will then be leased out.
Oxford City Council will make a decision on moving office-based staff out of its St Aldate’s chambers, at a cabinet meeting on Wednesday.
The local authority is planning to move its entire St Aldate’s operation to the town hall, just a stone’s throw away.
Two floors of the St Aldate’s chambers building have already closed, with the intention of renting out the space, while the council has had an offer for lease of the entire building.
A report has been submitted to the council’s cabinet, seeking authority to let the whole of the St Aldate’s chambers.
The report states: “The council, like many other organisations, adopted new ways of working during the pandemic including an increase in working from home.
“While this brought with it many challenges and underlined the importance of the office from a collaboration, social and cultural perspective, it also delivered many benefits.
“We have now implemented a new flexible working approach to the way we work, and as a result, the council and most council staff have adopted hybrid arrangements where staff will split their working hours between home and the office, or other locations.
“While individual officers and teams will have different requirements, a staff survey carried out in mid-2021 indicated that the majority typically wanted to work from home three days a week, and in the office two days a week.”
The report adds that an offer has been received for the whole of the St Aldate’s chambers, which would ‘provide an attractive return on the cost of moving staff to the town hall’.
The council’s cabinet is recommended to approve reallocating a budgeted £1 million to support the works required in relocating staff to the town hall.
“Making use of the town hall and relocating staff there will give a welcome focus on the civic building which is largely unused day-to-day,” the council report states.
“It will become the centrepiece for Oxford City Council.”
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Ed Turner, the council’s deputy leader, said: “St Aldate’s chambers has long served the city council as a suitable building to operate from, but times have changed.
“The pandemic brought about new ways of working, with many staff working from home for part of their time, while coming into the office when necessary.
“With fewer staff needing to come into the office on a daily basis, it makes sense to find an alternative use for the building and consolidate our offices in the town hall.”
Read more from this author
This story was written by Liam Rice, he joined the team in 2019 as a multimedia reporter.
Liam covers politics, travel and transport. He occasionally covers Oxford United.
Get in touch with him by emailing: Liam.rice@newsquest.co.uk
Follow him on Twitter @OxMailLiamRice
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