Council set to close town office sites

The county council plans to move about 500 staff into one site on Dock Walk

Derbyshire County Council is set to close 10 sites in Chesterfield to move staff into one building.

The authority has been reviewing the number of buildings it owns, and last month said it was consulting on making its Matlock headquarters a hotel.

More than 500 employees are set to be moved into two floors of an office on Dock Walk that used to be occupied by the Royal Mail, the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) has said.

Other public sector organisations will be given the chance to use the rest of the building, the council says.

On June 15 the authority approved the “rationalisation of the council’s property assets in Chesterfield”, but no further detail was provided in public with the report and all six documents relating to it marked “restricted” and not disclosed.

Deputy leader Simon Spencer told the LDRS being based in 10 sites around Chesterfield "is just not economic".

'Flexible' working

“By moving [into one site] we can generate efficiencies, by saving on IT, facilities and maintenance and give our employees a much better environment to work in," he said.

“Most of our office-based employees work from home several days a week, so we are confident that this new office block will give us the space we need for people to work flexibly."

Unions representing council staff said neither staff nor representatives were informed, which was denied by the council.

Finbar Bowie, from the GMB trade union, called on the council to "urgently provide clarity on what these plans would mean to local communities and hard-working staff".

"Ten closures in a 10-mile radius will surely impact how residents access services," he said.

"To drive through dramatic changes with barely a nod to the needs of its dedicated and committed staff would be a disgrace."