Council renting out unused office space to make 'best use of taxpayers’ cash'

A north Essex council is renting out unused office space with bosses “making best use of council tax payers’ money”, as a variety of firms and organisations make use of the offices. Uttlesford Council is offering a third of its headquarters in London Road, Saffron Walden for rent, with bosses saying less and less of the space is needed as more staff make the move to work from home following the Covid pandemic.

The authority says it’s also seeing council staff move to work from other sites it owns to prevent them from travelling further for work, with more workers now based at the depot in Little Canfield and office space in Stansted Mountfitchet. The council has been renting out space at its headquarters to a range of businesses and organisations including landscape gardeners, interior designers, chartered surveyors, charities and even Essex Police.

A spokesman for Uttlesford Council said: “The sign advertising that there is office space to let has been up at the London Road offices since June 26. Uttlesford Council is amongst the many, many employers that for many years has operated a blended approach to computer-using staff across many disciplines working partly from home, and partly from traditional offices.

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“We also have more council staff working from our depot in Little Canfield and from space in Stansted Mountfitchet – as there is no need for all our staff serving the district covering 247 square miles all have to be based in Saffron Walden. As the council employs staff across many roles that spend a part of their time on site visits – like planning officers, environmental health officers, building inspectors, housing officers and so on, Uttlesford doesn’t assign each staff member a personal desk for exclusive use that sits empty when they are out and about.

“As a result, less of the space in the council headquarters building is needed, so of course, we are making best use of council taxpayers’ money by renting out different offices to local small businesses, and our private sector tenants currently include landscape gardeners, interior designers, chartered surveyors and a training company, as well as giving free office space to Saffron Hall and another local charity, and providing space to Essex Police too. Their requirement still leaves more office space available to let and in total approximately one-third of the building is available to rent; the spaces available range from 150 to 3,200 square feet.

Enquiries can be made to Mark Liell Property Consultants on 01799 522 833 or email office@markliell.com.”