A row has broken out after the West of England Combined Authority (Weca) decided to spend £8million to move to “lavish” new offices. The organisation, comprising Bristol, South Gloucestershire and Bath & North East Somerset councils and led by metro mayor Dan Norris, launched an urgent search for a new base last month after the landlord of its headquarters near Temple Meads told it to leave by December.
Weca has now signed a deal to take over a four-storey complex in Redcliffe. But South Gloucestershire Council cabinet member Cllr Ben Burton has criticised both the central Bristol location and the cost, which is £200,000 a year more than it currently pays to rent the ground floor at 3 Rivergate.
He says the local authority offered Weca a whole floor of its main offices in Yate, next to the new park and ride and a short walk from the train station, but was snubbed because of a “snobbish attitude” towards the town from a “sneering metropolitan-based elite”. The combined authority says it is “essential” to be based in Bristol to recruit and retain staff because more than 90 per cent of its employees live in the city area and most commute by public transport or active travel.
Read more: Landlord tells WECA to leave its HQ, sparking debate over "Bristol-centric" search for new base
Conservative Cllr Burton, however, said the rent hike – from £500,000 to £700,000 a year – could not be justified while local bus services continued to face cuts. The cabinet member for corporate resources said: “It is absurd that these proposals would recommend wasting such a massive amount of public money on expensive new offices when there are much more viable and sensible options that should be considered and buses in our region that could be saved by this investment.
“Residents will no doubt be extremely disappointed that the Weca mayor is prioritising splashing the cash on lavish new buildings rather than protecting vital bus services. We had put forward a number of local options, including an offer to relocate Weca to our offices in Yate, providing ample room and easy commuting options that would support sustainable travel as well as helping to make working relationships stronger and more effective.
“It is very frustrating that both our suggestions and those of the other authorities have been dismissed so readily over such a poorly thought through alternative. There seems to be a snobbish attitude towards Yate from a sneering metropolitan-based elite.”
The move to 70 Redcliff Street comes amid a slew of cuts to bus services across the region, including the No 18 between Kingswood and Bath, which stopped at Longwell Green, Warmley, Bitton and Oldland Common. The T2 and Y2 buses have also been axed, scrapping established routes from Thornbury and Cribbs Causeway to Bristol, and from Yate and Downend to Bristol respectively.
In response to Cllr Burton’s criticism, West of England Labour mayor Mr Norris said: “Where staff are based is a matter for civil service bosses who are duty bound to take into account value for money, that over 90 per cent of the staff concerned currently live in Bristol, the commuting patterns across the West of England, and that most existing staff use public transport or walk and cycle to work.” An extraordinary meeting of the Weca committee had been called for Tuesday, May 3, solely to decide whether the combined authority should move to the Redcliffe building, but it could not go ahead because not enough members attended, so no formal decision could be made.
Since then, delegated authority has been taken by officers to go ahead with the move. It is understood South Gloucestershire Council’s chief executive voted against, his B&NES’s counterpart abstained but Bristol and Weca’s top officers voted in favour.
A report to last week’s cancelled committee meeting said the Redcliffe premises were the cheapest on a shortlist of three buildings, although Yate’s Badminton Road offices were not fully appraised financially, having been deemed “not viable”. It said the intention was to sublet some of the space, saving the authority £168,000 a year.
“A Bristol location is essential both from a recruitment and retention perspective and in consideration of the authority’s carbon footprint,” the report said. "Moving to an area outside of central Bristol would be detrimental to our ability to recruit and retain key staff, as well as increasing the authority’s carbon footprint through staff commuting to work.”
It said Weca would “struggle” to relocate its staff to the Yate council offices, adding: “Asking them to commute to Yate could be difficult. It is our view that we would lose existing staff and struggle to recruit future staff.” The £8million figure cited by Cllr Burton is the total cost for Redcliff Street over 10 years, including rent, running costs and other expenditure.
A promotional video of the new offices is here.
