Plans for Wyre Forest District Council to save hundreds of thousands of pounds from its annual running costs are a step closer as the authority has announced it has purchased a site for its centralised office.

The Council has bought land at Finepoint Business Park off the A451 Minster Road, between Kidderminster and Stourport-on-Severn.  This is a key stage in its plans to rationalise its office accommodation – currently spread over four sites in Kidderminster and Stourport-on-Severn – to a single site.  A project management and design team from property and construction consultants Rider Levett Bucknall has also been commissioned to work with the authority.

Councillor John Campion, Leader of Wyre Forest District Council said,

"We are delighted to have bought a site for our new offices as this project is key to our plans to modernise the Council to enable it to best support the local communities it serves.  I believe passionately that we must continue to deliver quality local services and to do that we must cut the cost of our office accommodation.  Having modern, flexible Civic Headquarters will save Council taxpayers money and employees will have an improved working environment where they can work more efficiently."

"It is expensive to run buildings on many sites as we currently do and one site will enable us to eliminate the reliance on leased accommodation and allow the Council to benefit from economies of scale."

"Choosing this location shows our commitment to contributing to the regeneration of the area which is a key gateway within the district and now home to many other local employers."

"Our next step is to work on the design brief.  This will be based on 'green' principles making it as sustainable as possible. I want to make sure residents know that this project is about protecting local services and saving money, not providing fancy offices for Councillors and staff."

The funding of new civic Head Quarters will be met from the sale of the existing offices and other assets which are surplus to the Council's needs.  This is a capital receipts project and therefore the funding could not be used on services which are provided from the revenues budget.

The Council is working on securing other partners to be part of this project and is working with Stourport Town Council to establish a project board to look at civic facilities for the town.

Frank Tidman a partner at Rider Levett Bucknall property and construction consultants said,
"The Rider Levett Bucknall Team are delighted to have been appointed for such an exciting and aspirational project that will provide a modern and sustainable facility for the delivery of the Council's services. The Team includes Broadway Malyan for design and workplace planning and URS for all engineering services and who collectively bring their experience and innovative approach to the challenge of increasing environmental standards.  Services will be delivered from the Team's West Midlands offices."

It is anticipated that a detailed planning application will be submitted this summer with work starting on site by early 2011.

Photograph shows Councillor John Campion, Leader of Wyre Forest District Council, with Tom Gormley of Highcross at Finepoint Business Park.This is the recently purchased site for the new single site accommodation for Wyre Forest District Council.

Date of issue - 19th May 2010