County claims £800k in office savings

Denbighshire County Council says it has saved over £800,000 of public funds over the past five years by rationalising its office space and encouraging staff to work more flexibly.

In 2010, council staff worked from 10 main buildings located across the county.

However, the council has implemented a programme to modernise the way it works that has involved relocating staff, desk sharing and encouraging home working.

As a direct result, the council has reduced its main buildings down to four – making a recurring saving of £273,000 a year from its budget.

In the last five years the Middle Lane site and industrial units in Denbigh, Fronfraith in Rhyl, Ty-Nant offices in Prestatyn as well as Clwyd Street and Trem Clwyd in Ruthin have been removed from the corporate office accommodation portfolio. 

All staff who previously worked from the now closed offices have been relocated to existing council buildings.

In addition to the annual savings local taxpayers have also benefitted from the £875,000 sale of two of the empty buildings, says the authority.

Councillor Barbara Smith, Cabinet Lead Member for Modernisation and Housing, said: “The Council has made a commitment in its corporate plan to modernise the way it works.

“This approach to rationalising the number of office buildings is great news for local residents, as it means that we have been able to make substantial savings that have been used to protect valuable front line services to the public.

“We have encouraged staff to use less space, developed open plan office environments and introduced work practices that allow staff to work from a variety of locations, rather than being fixed to their desks.

“The environment has also benefitted with CO2 omissions reducing by almost 400 tonnes per year."

The council claims further plans in the pipeline to rationalise the space it uses for the purposes of office accommodation will save a further £250,000 a year.