City council could spend millions refurbishing HQ

The Guildhall (pictured), Corn Exchange and Market Square in Cambridge could all be refurbished as part of a £20m project

Cambridge City Council is looking to set aside £20m to fund a "comprehensive refurbishment" of its headquarters and upgrade two other central sites, its executive councillor for finance said.

Most of the money would go towards improvements at the Guildhall, with the Corn Exchange and Market Square also seeing renovation.

Simon Smith, Labour, said the Guildhall needed to be fit for use "for the next 100 years".

The strategy and resources scrutiny committee will meet on Monday to discuss the proposals and other plans for the coming year's budget.

The £20m would come from the council's existing general reserve.

The authority said it still needed to make £11.1m of savings over the next five years, but in a worst case scenario would potentially need to save £19m.

Mr Smith, executive councillor for finance and resources, said the refurbishment of the Guildhall would include more accommodation for businesses and making better use of its halls.

Simon Smith said the majority of the money would be set aside for improvements at the Guildhall

He said: "It is nearly 100 years old and we need to make use of it for the next 100 years.

"We will have lots of small businesses in there. We already have restaurants in there at the rear of the building and we have many businesses come to the small and large halls, and we want to expand that use substantially."

He said he also wanted to create a new service centre at the site for people to meet staff and get advice, and make the Guildhall "an attractive and productive space for our staff".

No detailed plans have been completed for the Market Square or Corn Exchange.

James Littlewood, from Cambridge Past, Present and Future, said the Market Square needed a revamp

James Littlewood, chief executive of Cambridge Past, Present and Future, said the Market Square had been looking tired for years.

"We've got a fountain which doesn't have any water in it - it's full of cigarette butts and rubbish," he said.

"We've got a bunch of different compacting bins of different sizes, shapes and colours that are filthy and rusty... and then there's a nice area they've created where you can sit and have your food, in between the bins and the toilets.

"This is not the sort of wonderful place that we really want in the centre of Cambridge - it's really crying out for investment."

Tim Bick, leader of the Liberal Democrat opposition, said there was a need to invest, but it was not "much of a step forward".

"This is a splitting of the council’s massive and growing reserves with the same vague words attached to £20m of them," Mr Bick said.

"It serves the purpose of making it look like some of the embarrassing amount of idle money in its reserves is finally being put to work, but sadly that is not yet the case and the council is taking far too long about it."