Wolverhampton Council 'should consider leaving' Civic Centre headquarters

Conservative councillors in Wolverhampton say a conversation needs to be had about the future of the Civic Centre.

With many of the council's 2,000 staff currently working from home due to the coronavirus pandemic, large parts of the building are currently unused.

The Tories say the move towards home working will only increase in the future and that now may be the opportunity to begin exploring the possibility of renting out parts of the Civic for office space or other uses, or even leaving the building completely for a smaller base.

But city council leader Ian Brookfield said it was not something that was being considered.

Councillor Wendy Thompson, the city's opposition leader, said: "The city centre economy is going through a difficult time and there is a huge building right in the centre almost totally empty.

"In the short-term, use the building, get people into it. Get it rented out, whatever. In the long-term a big organisation always has to be looking at its assets.

"They should be considering the long-term usage for this building, looking forward five, 10 years to what sort of organisation we should have.

"We have seen councils like Shropshire leaving very large buildings. We're not saying Wolverhampton should take this path but let's have a discussion about it."

She added: "Can we really afford to have such a large building sitting there empty?"

But Councillor Brookfield dismissed the idea, saying: "There is a specific reason we haven't got 2,000 people working there. This is not a plan for the future it is a product of the current circumstances.

"If we move where are we going to put 2,000 people? We fully intend, as the circumstances and law allows, to get people back to work. There will be some people for whom it is beneficial to continuing from home but not the large part.

"It will benefit city centre shops desperately crying out for more footfall."