Weymouth North Quay: Block 'too unsafe' for community use

The North Quay offices are costing £102,636 a year, including business rates, security, repairs and utility bills, Dorset Council said

Plans to turn a former council office building into a temporary community centre cannot go ahead because it is unsafe, a local authority has said.

The former Weymouth and Portland Borough Council offices have been empty since 2016 and are costing more than £100,000 a year to maintain.

A proposal to demolish it for housing was rejected last year.

At the time, councillors said options to reuse it should be considered instead.

A group of local community organisations #WeymouthTogether network submitted a proposal for the building to be put to short-term community use, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

However, Dorset Council member Tony Ferrari, who is overseeing the sale or reuse of assets now owned by the authority, said the current state of the building meant that it could not be used or even visited for inspection.

The unitary authority took over the assets of the former borough council in a local government reorganisation last year.

Mr Ferrari said the council intended to "engage with the community" in early 2021 about the future of North Quay.

In 2017, the £4.5m sale of the site to developer Acorn fell through after the borough council refused permission to convert the harbour-side block into 56 flats.