Former North Quay council offices in Weymouth unsafe for community use
They're in poor condition and costing taxpayers £102,000 a year.
The poor condition of the former borough council headquarters at North Quay in Weymouth has ruled it out for temporary community use.
Local councillor Tony Ferrari has said that a consultation will be held in the new year about future use of the site.
This week he admitted that the building was unsafe and could not be visited in safety.
Cllr Ferrari, who is overseeing the sale or re-use of assets now owned by Dorset Council, has also confirmed that the building is costing local council taxpayers more than £102,000 a year to remain empty.
'Housing plans rejected'
Plans for housing on the site came to a halt in September 2019 when the council’s area planning committee rejected an application to redevelop from Dorchester-based Magna Housing Association. The proposal would have involved a cost of around £3m to demolish the building and clear the site.
A commercial developer, who has offered to take on the site and re-develop it with high quality flats and some shopping, has since said that his approach to the council to take on the building had been rejected.
The latest proposals to make use of the site have come from the #WeymouthTogether network of community organisations.
A spokesman for the group, Penny Quilter, this week asked the council if it could take a look at the building to assess whether it could be put to short-term community use.
But she was told by Cllr Ferrari that the current state of the building meant that it was in no state to be used, even short-term, or visited to inspect it.
In his response he said the council intended to ‘engage with the community’ in early 2021 about the future of North Quay.
He said the cost of maintain the building is currently £102,636 a year – made up of £95,760 in business rates, £2,555 for security costs, £474 for repairs and maintenance and £3,847 in utility bills.