Burnley Council looks to sell off mayoral car garage (From Lancashire Telegraph)

Burnley Council looks to sell off mayoral car garage

9:00pm Sunday 5th February 2012 in News By Tyrone Marshall, Reporter

A NEW home could have to be found for Burnley’s mayoral car.

Council bosses are set to sell off the garage it is kept in as part of a cost-cutting exercise to sell off office space and buildings that are no longer required.

A review of town centre office accommodation has identified the sale of the council-owned building in Nicholas Street, which houses staff from the Streetscene department, has the best option.

But the Nicholas Street site also had a garage which stores the luxury mayoral car, and that would prevent council chiefs with a headache, with a new safe location needed to store the car when it is not in use.

A council spokesman said: “This would save around £74,000 in a full year.

“If disposal is not possible in the current market the building could be ‘mothballed’ until the market recovers. Although the likelihood of a short term sale is low, a capital receipt would be generated on sale.

“There is a problem of where to garage the mayor’s car in the event of a sale, which it is assumed could be dealt with by use of any capital receipt.

“The functionality and layout of this building is not in accordance with modern office standards. In particular there is no lift facility.”

The offices in Nicholas Street currently house 76 staff, but there are 71 empty desks. It is planned to move these staff to other offices in council buildings such as the town hall, the Contact Burnley centre or the Parker Lane offices.

The spokesman said: “Even allowing for a relatively generous provision of meeting space it is apparent that the council’s current and future requirements for office space would be capable of being accommodated in a reduced number of buildings.

“Subject to consolidating the available space into suitable groupings it would therefore be possible to vacate Nicholas Street and accommodate the displaced staff into the remaining council buildings.”