Oxford City Council could rent out HQ to meet virus costs

A council could fully rent out its city centre headquarters in a bid to meet costs incurred during the pandemic.

Oxford City Council plans to rent out two floors of St Aldates Chambers by the end of next year and will explore "more ambitious" plans later.

It expects to lose a total of £23m as a result of Covid and said it would need to draw on £11m - half of its reserves - to help pay for it.

The government said it had so far paid just under £11m to the authority.

Oxford City Council said that while it has been "welcome", it had been insufficient to fully cover problems caused by the pandemic.

It said it was currently preparing its "extremely challenging" 2022/23 budget to deal with its "profound" impact.

It added it expected to lose about £3.7m in commercial rental income, out of a planned £13.5m in this financial year.

The authority also said it would lose an expected total of £7.4m because of fewer people using its car parks, renting rooms at Oxford Town Hall and using its leisure centres.

Ed Turner, the council's deputy leader and cabinet member for finance, said it was a "worrying time".

While the pandemic is the "principal reason" for the council's predicament, he said government schemes, that do not currently give compensation for lost commercial revenue, had left it "particularly exposed".

The council said it had "been looking hard at ways to increase efficiency" while not cutting services, including renting out part of its headquarters as more staff can work from home.

A consultation will start on 16 December and run until the end of January. A final decision will be made on 16 February.

A spokesperson for the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities said: "The Government has allocated over £12 billion directly to councils since the start of the pandemic.

"Of this, over £6 billion is unringfenced in recognition that local councils are best placed to decide how to meet the major COVID-19 pressures in their local area.

"Oxford City Council has received £10.6 million in funding over the past two years - and has seen an increase in core spending power by 3.45%."

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