Police to use Charringtons House for anti-terrorist training before East Herts Council hands it over to its Old River Lane development partner Cityheart for demolition
A Bishop’s Stortford office block is set to become a police training ground for anti-terrorist and hostage rescue operations as East Herts Council battles to balance its books.
On Tuesday evening, the Conservative authority’s deputy leader and executive member for financial sustainability, Cllr Geoffrey Williamson, told the audit and governance committee to expect a new round of austerity amid central government funding cuts, increased salaries for staff and spiralling energy prices.
Shutting the district council’s facilities in Charringtons House in March, ahead of its handover to Old River Lane scheme developer Cityheart in the autumn, will save £29,000 as its customer services staff move to Bishop’s Stortford Town Council’s base one day a week from April.
The 1960s office block, occupied by a number of businesses as well as the council, is set to be demolished as part of the Old River Lane renewal project and Cllr Williamson made it clear keeping it open beyond March was not an option.
He said the lift was beyond economic repair if it failed and there were issues with the water supply. The pipework was designed for a single occupant not multiple tenants.
He said: “There are several micro-fractures in the pipework that involve daily emptying of containers and monitoring of the fractures. In order to repair any leaks, the pipework design means that water is shut off to the whole building and we cannot isolate supply to a floor. Consequently, any repairs have to be at weekends or we have to close the building to tenants while repairs are undertaken.”
He said once the empty building had been used for training by the emergency services, the environmental health department would be asked to issue a notice to prevent further occupation because of exposed asbestos.
Cllr Williamson said that capital costs had been hit hard by inflation and therefore the council was pausing a number of projects to save £9.56m, including renovating a Bishop’s Stortford shopping parade.
The scheme to demolish the seven shops and three flats at Elizabeth Road and rebuild with two larger commercial units and a mixture of 10 houses, flats and maisonettes will be progressed to planning permission, but “the best return to the council will be to put it up for sale”.
Cllr Williamson warned: “In the current environment, many councils are contemplating cancelling outright capital projects.”
He said that when a new council is elected in May, it will need to further scrutinise the authority’s major spending plans, which include a new arts centre for Stortford in the Causeway. Overall, the authority estimates its regeneration bill for Old River Lane will be £23.392m by 2026.
East Herts is proposing a 2.99% rise of £5.50 to its £189.59 council tax precept for band D homeowners from April for 2023-24. Otherwise, Cllr Williamson said, “significant changes to the service offer” would be required.
