Civic centre to cost £3m a year for 35 years

ROTHERHAM Borough Council was under fire this week for tying itself into a 35-year, £3-million-a-year deal to get its new civic centre built.

Furious opposition councillors described the private finance initiative arrangement with regeneration group Evans as “a bad deal for Rotherham”—a claim hotly denied by the council.

When the new offices on the former Guest and Chrimes industrial site are completed next year, the council will start paying Evans rent at a rate of £2.9 million a year.

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With rent reviews every five years, critics say that the council could end up paying as much as £150 million over the length of the PFI deal.

The local authority will not own the building outright when the agreement runs out in the mid 2030s, although it will have an option to buy it.

The E-shaped office block is seen as a key part of the town’s £2 billion Rotherham Renaissance programme as its completion will allow other council buildings in the town centre to be demolished and make way for more development.

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But details of the deal relating to the new offices on the site off Main Street have caused concerns among campaigners and councillors.

Tory councillor John Gilding, who put Labour rival Cllr Ken Wyatt on the spot over the deal at a council meeting, said: “It’s a horrendous amount of money and then we won’t even own the building at the end of it.

“We will be able to buy it then but it doesn’t look like we’ll have any choice in the matter as we will be stuck with it.

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“We either have to stay and buy it or find somewhere else and I can’t see them uprooting everybody again.

“It’s just a bad deal for Rotherham.

“With all this money and that being spent on doing up the Town Hall, it doesn’t look like money is tight at Town Hall towers, even though everyone else is having to tighten their belts.”

Fellow Tory councillor Tony Mannion said that he had been stunned to find out the cost of the PFI deal.

“We were gobsmacked that we’re spending so much and it’s still not going to be our building,” he added.

 

Claims denied

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COUNCIL development chief Karl Battersby denied that the new civic building agreement was a bad deal for Rotherham, insisting: "It's quite the opposite.”

Mr Battersby, the council’s director for development services, said: “This decision was not made lightly and took many years of negotiation.

"Many options for the future of council accommodation were previously considered and costed, including the refurbishment or rebuild on existing sites.

"With costs ranging from £60 million to £124 million in build costs alone, this would have required an initial annual spend of between £5.5 million and £10 million a year just to support this borrowing. 

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“The actual cost is only one part of a much bigger equation that offers much higher benefits for Rotherham.

“The refurbishment of existing buildings would have had no benefit to the Renaissance programme.

“The site itself was derelict and by moving staff into the new building, we will free up other important sites across the town, allowing for vital and much-needed regeneration."

Mr Battersby added: “The new building will not be lavish.

“It will incorporate important environmentally-friendly features, resulting in an industry environmental rating of excellent.

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“The use of ground water to cool the building will provide a minimum of ten per cent of the building's energy usage and contribute to a 1,700-tonne annual reduction in CO2 emissions, saving approximately £417,000 a year in energy and carbon reduction commitment costs.

"Evans of Leeds owns the site and the building and once the 35-year lease comes to an end, negotiations will then take place about the future.

“The authority will either extend the lease arrangement or take up the option to purchase, which is part of the current lease agreement."

 

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