Surrey County Conservatives

County's funding crisis forces Conservatives to adandon new County Hall 18th January 2006

Surrey County Council’s Conservative run Executive has been forced to abandon plans to construct a new County Hall in Woking due to the Council’s abysmal funding settlement from the Government for next year and rising construction costs.

The Executive at its meeting yesterday was asked to reaffirm an earlier decision taken in March last year to enter into a 30-year contract with Equion to provide a new County Hall on a site at Brewery Road, Woking. However, since that decision was taken the Council’s financial position has deteriorated, and the Executive’s decision not to proceed is set against a backdrop of rising construction costs and a financial settlement which has already necessitated the need to find significant savings from the Council’s budget through the Business Delivery Review.

Commenting Conservative Group leader, Nick Skellett, said:

“We as an Executive could no longer justify entering into a 30 year contract and spending precious resources on a new County Hall at a time when the Council faces a financial crisis at the hands of the Government and we are looking to impose a 5% rise in Council Tax on Surrey’s residents this year.

The financial settlement announced back in December confirmed our worst fears over the Council’s funding and as such we feel it would be imprudent in the extreme to proceed with this development at a time when our main priority should be implementing the outcomes of the Business Delivery Review and seeking to keep future rises in the level of Council Tax to a minimum.”