Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Aberdeenshire Council could sell HQ to plug £50million budget black hole

Co-leaders Richard Thomson and Martin Kitts-Hayes outside Woodhill House
Co-leaders Richard Thomson and Martin Kitts-Hayes outside Woodhill House

Aberdeenshire Council could sell off its Woodhill House HQ to help fill a multimillion-pound budget black hole.

The £21million property could be put on the market as the local authority battles to make savings of £50million over the next four years.

Its SNP-led administration will lay out spending priorities at a meeting of the full council at the building in Aberdeen’s Westburn Road later today.

Aberdeenshire Council is the only local authority in Scotland which has its headquarters outwith its own area.

Today senior councillors will put forward their case to end the unusual arrangement.

Speaking on the eve of the meeting, administration co-leader and Independent councillor Martin Kitts-Hayes said: “A top priority for us will be our managing of the estate, the physical places that Aberdeenshire Council currently occupies.

“It’s always been an issue with the council HQ – why are we based in Aberdeen City? It’s not even our area. We want a comprehensive look at it. There are no sacred cows.

“It’s a big piece of work – we have way too many properties within Aberdeenshire and many people will say ‘do we need a building of the size of Woodhill house going forward?’.”

Aberdeenshire Council's headquarters - Woodhill House in Aberdeen
Aberdeenshire Council’s headquarters – Woodhill House in Aberdeen

Fellow co-leader and SNP councillor Richard Thomson echoed Mr Kitts-Hayes’s comments.

He said: “It’s perfectly feasible to work without a central HQ.

“We’ll always have a building where we’ll transact our council business, to that extent there will always be a civic centre, but whether it needs to be Woodhill House is something we will look at very closely.”

Today’s pre-budget discussion is the first since the SNP-led coalition seized power earlier this year.

The overhaul of the council estate would also include closing and consolidating offices in towns across the region.

In Ellon alone, there are more than a dozen offices owned or leased by Aberdeenshire Council.

In Peterhead – the region’s largest town – the local authority has already started the process.

The new £5.5million Buchan House office building opened earlier this year, but allowed the administration to save money by selling off properties across the town.

Mr Thomson said: “Aberdeenshire has a very high number of properties, some of which it has inherited and some of which – let’s be honest – are no longer fit to deliver services.”

He said the administration “wouldn’t be doing its duty” if it allowed running costs to spiral out of control.

“Woodhill House opened in the early 1970s and it carries problems with it you would expect of buildings of that age,” he added.

“If there’s a way to work from other locations which reduces running costs and makes a more effective environment for our staff to work in, that’s absolutely something we have to look at.”

It is understood the 15-acre site in Westburn Road is worth about £21.6million.

The value of the buildings has tumbled by more than £10million since the early 1990s.

There is 170,000sq ft of office space inside, some of which is already leased to local businesses.

But if the site was sold in its entirety, it is likely the 40-year-old structure would be torn down to make way for a replacement office block, houses or even a shopping centre.

Mr Kitts-Hayes – who acted as deputy council leader in the previous administration – said slimming-down Aberdeenshire’s property portfolio would also help regenerate the region.

The co-leaders believe if Woodhill House is disposed of, staff will disperse to local offices and spend money in the local communities.

Council buildings in towns including Peterhead, Ellon, Inverurie and Stonehaven could be sold to local businesses.

The local authority is facing a funding shortfall of more than £50million over the next four years, and about £17.5million of spending needs to be cut for 2016.