Councillors in Stafford Borough have given the green light to buy their Civic Centre base - in a move that will save taxpayers’ money.

Permission to purchase the town’s Civic Centre in Riverside was discussed as part of a confidential report at a special meeting on Tuesday (18 March). The building currently has a lease which has more than 50 years to run - with rent expected to increase during that time.

Buying the property will also enable the council to bid for grants to make the building more environmentally friendly and reduce running costs - funding which is only open to the local authority if they own the Civic Centre.

As well as borough council functions, the four-storey building houses other agencies including NHS services.

The report was confidential because of commercial sensitivities with councillors agreeing to the recommendation to purchase the building at the extraordinary full council meeting on Tuesday (18 March.)

Leader of the council, Aidan Godfrey, said the lease, which was originally agreed in 1974, tied the council’s hands and would be an expensive burden with council taxpayers footing the bill of unnecessary costs which the authority would have no control over in the future.

He said: “We have looked very closely at the figures to see if purchasing the building was the right thing to do - and our decision was based on investing in the future.

“We want to protect taxpayers’ money and if we were to own the building we would avoid unnecessary costs. We would also be able to bid for investment that will reduce the carbon footprint of the Civic Centre - and help improve its energy efficiency therefore providing a reduction in long-term running costs.”

Press Release No 6204