Mid and East Antrim council to sell offices amid £7m shortfall

Smiley Buildings in Larne, County Antrim

Mid and East Antrim Borough Council plans to sell some of its offices amid efforts to address a £7.2m funding shortfall.

Smiley Buildings in Larne will be put on the market with staff and services relocated, BBC News NI understands.

The council's budget problems emerged last month following an external analysis of its finances.

Its interim chief executive said the pressures are "significant and growing".

Valerie Watts told councillors on Monday that spending controls and a "budget-tracking dashboard" have been set up.

She said charts have also been established to look at staffing levels across the council, including permanent, agency and casual roles.

Councillors held a meeting behind closed doors on Tuesday evening to further discuss the issues.

Mid and East Antrim Borough Council headquarters in Ballymena

Smiley Buildings includes one of three registrar offices in the local authority area for recording births, deaths, marriages and civil partnerships.

It was the headquarters of the old Larne Borough Council before it was merged in 2015 with other neighbouring local authorities to form Mid and East Antrim.

It is understood the council is considering whether to use some of its financial reserves - funds held for long-term stability - to partly cover the budget shortfall identified in this financial year.

The council was approached for comment but it did not respond.

'Significant squeeze on finances'

Ms Watts had described the council as being in a "critical situation", according to minutes from a closed meeting last month.

On Monday, she told councillors that systems in human resources, payroll, finance and procurement "were not standardised and always documented".

"Future processes for finance and procurement have been developed with clear steps for how and where controls should be implemented," she added.

The Department for Communities, which oversees local government in Northern Ireland, said last month it had been informed of the PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) report into Mid and East Antrim council.

The Northern Ireland Local Government Association (Nilga) has said inflationary pressures are placing a "significant squeeze on the finances and resources across the local government sector".

Alison Allen, chief executive of Nilga, last month said councils have been facing "unprecedented rises in utility costs, increased borrowing costs, pay inflation and expected cuts to government grants".

Earlier this year all 11 councils across Northern Ireland agreed their highest rise in household rates bills since a reform of local government in 2015.

In the Mid and East Antrim council area, average bills increased by £27.35 a year after a rates increase of 5.43% was agreed.