Derbyshire council considers selling its headquarters

A Derbyshire council is considering either selling its headquarters or renting out the building in a bid to save money.

Amber Valley Borough Council said its occupation of the building had significantly reduced following its reorganisation of services.

The authority recently appointed an independent surveyor to assess the marketing potential of the property.

The building occupies almost three acres of land in the centre of Ripley.

Councillor Stuart Bradford, leader of the council, said: "The building is a major fixed cost against our revenue budget.

"We always said we'd explore every possible option at making savings and this would be too big an opportunity to ignore to make a potentially huge step towards meeting the financial challenges we face.

"Our priority is to make sure that if Amber Valley Borough Council does vacate the building entirely or partially, that another business or organisation can occupy the building sufficiently enough to continue to support the local economy and to support regeneration in Ripley."