The multimillion-pound cost of purchasing a new office building near Scarborough has been disclosed by North Yorkshire Council.
The controversial purchase of Resolution House cost North Yorkshire Council (NYC) £3 million, the authority has said, as the first staff members moved into the building last week. The site was marketed with a guide price of £4.5 million.
The decision to move council staff out of the current offices in Scarborough and Malton into the new building by the A64 – purchased from Anglo American – has led to concerns among residents about the impact on town centre businesses, access to services, and value for money.
NYC presented the scheme as a way of avoiding up to £19 million of costs to upgrade “appalling working conditions” at the ageing Scarborough Town Hall site. It could also see Malton’s Ryedale House office sold to make way for housing.
Customer access points are set to be created in Scarborough and Malton as part of the plan.
Plans for the hubs are being developed, and if agreed, it is hoped they will open by April next year, a spokesperson told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS).
They added that no decision had yet been made regarding the future of Scarborough Town Hall.
Thomas Murray, Reform’s town mayor of Scarborough, said: “Scarborough’s historic Town Hall is not just another office block to be quietly written off from Northallerton. It has stood at the heart of Scarborough’s civic life for generations and remains the home of Scarborough Town Council, our council meetings, mayoralty and civic functions. It is an important part of our town’s heritage and civic identity, and I sincerely hope North Yorkshire Council will work constructively with the Town Council to secure its long-term future.
“One thing is clear: I will not stand by and see the Town Hall become another abandoned building in Scarborough. Any uncertainty over its future creates uncertainty for the town council, including our offices, meetings and civic functions, and could ultimately leave Scarborough residents facing additional costs.”
North Yorkshire Council said that the first staff members moved into Resolution House last week with additional teams set to relocate “over the coming months”.
According to a report published this spring, the scheme will create “minimum ongoing savings in property running costs of £400,000 per annum and savings of more than £20m in backlog maintenance liabilities across Ryedale House and Scarborough Town Hall”.
However, concerns about the decision-making process were raised by several councillors, including Independent, Michelle Donohue-Moncrieff, who said she was “deeply concerned at the poor quality of information provided for this important decision”.
Speaking earlier this year, she said: “Such is my concern, I have written to the council’s external auditor, Mazars, detailing the failings in the council’s approach.”
Cllr Rich Maw, an Independent, added: “I welcome the confirmation that North Yorkshire Council purchased Resolution House for £3 million.
“I called in the original decision because I believed councillors needed greater clarity about the financial case, the condition and suitability of the building, the costs of adapting it, and, crucially, what this would mean for Scarborough Town Hall and the wider town centre.
“The fact that the council has secured Resolution House for £3 million rather than the £4.5 million guide price is clearly significant. It is a substantial reduction, and I recognise the work that has gone into negotiating that purchase.”
However, he said that the purchase price was “only part of the story” and that residents deserved to know the full cost of acquisition, adaptation, moving staff, and operating the building.
He told the LDRS: “I also remain concerned about the future of Scarborough Town Hall. It is an important civic and heritage asset at the heart of our town, and the decision to purchase an alternative council building cannot be considered in isolation from what happens to the Town Hall.”
Michelle Richardson, a leading member of the United Scarborough Residents Action Group, campaigned against the council’s plan to purchase Resolution House.
Commenting on the £3 million sale price, she said: “We are again extremely disappointed and annoyed with NYC’s mismanagement of our already available assets and procurement in regard to due process and the short time allowance afforded to the completely unnecessary purchase of Resolution House.”
She added: “At this stage we believe that our public finances have been outlaid in yet another ‘unnecessary gamble’, on a building completely in the wrong location for a greater percentage of the Scarborough population.
“Pavilion House, situated within the Scarborough town centre, which had already been purchased for the same Council office use and in combination with Castle House, would have been a much more appropriate centralised location for all Scarborough residents and cost-effective, as we only required interior updates to facilitate a move.
“We urge NYC to work and listen with the town council on this situation as a matter of urgency, so we don’t lose another significantly important building to ‘managed decline’ that this town has suffered, both under Scarborough Borough Council and NYC.”
Town mayor, Cllr Murray, added: “North Yorkshire Council moving its operations out of the town hall is also another example of a deeply centralised model of local government that simply is not working for communities across North Yorkshire. Decisions and services have become increasingly distant from the towns and communities they are supposed to serve. Power works best when it is closest to the people.
“The creation of the unitary authority came with commitments to respect civic traditions and work closely with town and parish councils. Scarborough now deserves clarity about the future of its Town Hall, and Scarborough Town Council must have a meaningful role in deciding what happens to this important civic building.”
By: Anttoni James Numminen, LDRS
