Pondering sale of council HQ

Councillors and their officials appear to spend most waking moments thinking up new ways to save money or plug financial black holes – but selling off their own headquarters is not usually top of the list.

It is an option being weighed up seriously, however, by Aberdeenshire Council as it stares at a seemingly immovable £50million budget shortfall.

An estimated return of £21million on the sale of its Woodhill House headquarters would help fill that gap handsomely. It is not as though Aberdeenshire has a shortage of other properties from which to carry on its business.

The interesting thing is that alternative headquarters are actually in Aberdeenshire, whereas Woodhill House most definitely is not: the sprawling modernistic pile sits in the heart of Aberdeen. This quirk of local-government history makes Aberdeenshire the only Scottish council whose main base is outside its jurisdiction and within another authority’s boundaries – in this case, Aberdeen City Council.

That alone makes a powerful case for tidying up this anomaly – and making a tidy packet at the same time.

However, all local authorities require a suitable building which is fit for purpose as a central base and Aberdeenshire should be no different in this respect.

It shows how dire public finances remain, in general, after the financial crisis and recession. Accumulated debts or shortfalls over the years can accelerate this downward spiral, which means everything is up for grabs, in theory.

“It shows how dire public finances remain, in general, after the financial crisis and recession”