Working from home renders £18m council headquarters a white elephant

A brand new council headquarters that cost taxpayers £18 million is standing almost empty because staff are being told to stay at home, months after Covid rules were abolished.

Cambridgeshire County Council’s New Shire Hall is at risk of becoming a white elephant as bosses insist on social distancing, which even the NHS has now abandoned.

Members of the public who visit the building report being told that no one works there. On Monday, the council refused to provide details of how many staff were still working from home.

A former minister said it “beggars belief” that council workers weare still being told to avoid coming to the office when the world of work has returned to normal elsewhere.

The Liberal Democrat-Labour coalition that runs the council is refusing to hold full council meetings in the building. Its Covid rules mean no more than 22 people can meet in a chamber designed to hold more than 80.

Skeleton staff amid 'ventilation requirements'

New Shire Hall opened for business last summer after the council decided its old headquarters in Cambridge was outmoded. It built its new headquarters in Alconbury, near Huntingdon, claiming it would save the public £40 million over 25 years.

But it has operated with a skeleton staff ever since. When The Telegraph visited the site on Monday, there were just three cars in its car park. A receptionist blamed “Covid guidelines” for the fact that so many staff were still working from home.

A council spokesman said it was “incorrect” to suggest that no one was working at the building. However, the spokesman confirmed that some council buildings remain closed, that numbers have been dictated by “social distancing and ventilation requirements” and that “numbers using the buildings will further increase as virus levels continue to decline”.

Jake Berry, the Tory MP and former minister said: “There is little or no reason whatsoever that people working for Cambridgeshire County Council should not go back to work. We have seen Covid restrictions rolled back across the country and it beggars belief that the only place they haven’t heard about this is in Cambridgeshire.”

Steve Count, head of the Conservative group on the council, suggested its leaders were “overthinking” Covid precautions.

When the building was commissioned by a previous Conservative-led council, the traditional council chamber was replaced by a multi-function room which could be used for full council meetings but also for other meetings and events.

However, the Liberal Democrat-Labour coalition which took control last year said it is not fit for purpose. It has insisted on holding council meetings elsewhere.

As well as concerns about social distancing, a report prepared for the council’s strategy and resources committee said members of the public, who are entitled to attend council meetings, “will be almost within touching distance of members”  - meaning the public “will have a view of their papers and laptops”. The report added: “It may be uncomfortable for members to have people very close to and behind them, especially where matters may be contentious.”

The report suggested there should be “physical separation” between councillors and the public. It noted that in the old headquarters, the public sat on a first floor balcony, meaning there was a barrier “for all but the most determined persons (eg those attempting to bring abseiling equipment into the building)”.

'Politically-driven' agenda

Mr Count said: “This is being driven by a politically-driven desire to prove the building is a failure. No one can tell you that the room isn’t fit for what it was intended for. There were numerous visits to the site when it was being built and every councillor who visited spoke about it positively.”

The council has now ordered a “detailed report” into whether the room can accommodate full council meetings.

A spokesman for the council said it had kept essential public services running throughout the pandemic and had done so “from a range of workplaces and settings, including through some members of our staff working remotely from home”.

The spokesman declined to say how many staff were working at New Shire Hall and how many were still at home.