Hundreds of Herts Council staff WILL be moved out after relocation decision made

HUNDREDS of staff WILL move out of the county council’s landmark County Hall HQ, councillors have decided.

Currently around 2500 of the county council’s workforce are ‘based’ in the building, in Hertford.

But following a post-pandemic move towards hybrid or home working, council bosses say that on a typical day just 18 per cent of staff are in the building.

They believe moving staff to the county council’s office campus in Stevenage will cut costs by up to £3m a year.

And on Monday (July 10) the plans – which will retain the front part of County Hall for democratic and civic purposes – were given the green light by a meeting of the council’s cabinet.

Presenting the proposals, executive member for resources and performance Cllr Bob Deering said that the building was now “significantly under-utilised”.

And he said: “In so far as this building requires expenditure to maintain it, it’s not good use of tax payers money to maintain a building of this size just to facilitate a relatively small population of staff.

“So it is very important we address that and we don’t run away from it.

“So the view taken and the approach that is intended is that we will relocate the vast majority of staff who have been based here to Stevenage – our existing facilities at Stevenage.”

Cllr Deering accepted that there would be some disruption, but that the disruption would be less than had there not been a move towards hybrid working.

“There clearly will be some disruption involved in that including to staff that live relatively locally to County Hall,” he said.

“But, of course, by definition in this day of hybrid working and working from home, that disruption may not be as much as it would have been in previous years.”

Meanwhile leader of the county council Cllr Richard Roberts pointed to the improvements that had been made to the council’s Stevenage offices, off Gunnels Wood Road.

And he echoed suggestions that they would be a ‘magnet’ where staff would want to work and engage with colleagues.

However he also acknowledged his ‘huge regret’ at seeing the ‘giant of a building’ of County Hall as ‘a shadow of its former self because of the lack of people in it’.

He suggested that the retention of the front part of County Hall for democratic and civic purposes would present opportunities for weddings and civic functions.

And he also highlighted the county council’s network of ‘touchown’ spaces and offices at Apsley, in Hemel Hempstead.

Some concerns about the plans have been expressed by councillors.

And at the meeting Cllr Roberts said: “[…] it’s going to be really really important that we take our democratically elected councillors with us on the journey of what is, for some, quite a dramatic change.

“So I look forward with the continuing progress as we transition from County Hall to Stevenage.”

As part of the decision to relocate most county council services to Stevenage, the cabinet agreed to £6m to be allocated to ‘programme costs’.

And they also agreed to begin marketing the remainder of the County Hall site, not earmarked for retention for democratic and civic purposes.