Shock at ‘sudden’ sale of offices for Peterborough and Cambridgeshire mayoral body

Addressing the members of the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority Overview and Scrutiny Committee during their meeting on Friday afternoon via video link, Mayor Palmer said: “We’ve been contacted by an interested party who want to take over the offices we rent at the Alconbury site and a deal with them may be concluded as soon as this afternoon.”

The news came as something of a shock to the members of the committee despite Mayor Palmer saying that he had first voiced the idea some six to eight months ago.

Cllr Marcus Gehring (Cambridge City Council) was shocked and said: “Maybe I am missing something here, Mr Mayor, but wasn’t it you and the Tory group at the CPCA who insisted that it was in our interests to move everything to the Alconbury site in the first place? Why the sudden change of heart and when were we going to be informed about this move?”

Mayor Palmer replied: “The transport links to Alconbury are dreadful and nobody like going there; besides, the offices we have are far too big for what we need and if we move everything to Ely as I am proposing then we will end up saving £250,000 per year for the next three years. I put all of this to you in a meeting last year so this is nothing new.”

Cllr Gehring responded: “I think this is an absolute disgrace – are you seriously telling us that the mayor of the combined authority, the same mayor who is in charge of all the transportation for the whole of Cambridgeshire, is actually moving house because the transportation to Alconbury is bad? When did you come to this conclusion might I ask?

“We Lib Dems and the Labour members certainly raised the issue of transportation when you insisted that it would be better for us to go out to the middle of nowhere with no transport links of any kind, but you wanted it your way – and you got it.”

Mayor Palmer added: “We were given an opportunity to get out of the lease at Alconbury and in so doing save £250,000 for three years – now what kind of a mayor would I be if I didn’t take up on an opportunity like that?

“When we moved into the Alconbury offices we had far too many staff members. Now, thanks to my alterations to the staff levels – which, by the way, have saved another £1.4 million – we simply don’t need offices of that size.

“We were approached by a third party who were interested in taking over the site and they are there today looking it over. I’ve already given my mayoral authorisation to relinquish the lease if they want to do a deal – it’s a simple as that.”

Chair Cllr Lorna Dupre said: “While I accept that any savings are always a good thing, it would appear that everything you are doing at the moment Mr Mayor is very Ely-centric, because that’s your patch isn’t it?”

Mayor Palmer replied: “I know that some people in Cambridge hate the idea of ever getting on public transport and catching a bus or a train out to Ely, but that is where it makes most sense to have the CPCA head offices.”

Cllr Dupre responded: “I have nothing against Ely, but taking the decision on your own to carry out this move without proper and full consultation is unforgivable. When were you going to let the leaders of the other councils know? By the sounds of things, it’ll be too late if your ‘done deal’ is done today”.

Mayor Palmer said: “I’ve already spoken with most of the other leaders of the councils and they’re totally with me on this one.

“Frankly, I’m a bit surprised to hear Lib Dem members having a go at me for saving money – I thought that’s what you lot were all about?”

Cllr Gehring responded: “Well I’ve just read a tweet from Cllr Lewis Herbert and he says he is furious about this and knew nothing of it.”

Mayor Palmer replied: “Really councillor, you ought to know by now that tweeting isn’t real news.”

If the deal goes ahead then it will need to be ratified by board members of the CPCA at their meeting next Wednesday. If the deal is ratified it will mean the CPCA leaving their current offices at Incubator 2, Enterprise Campus, Alconbury.

Although Mayor Palmer says no new location has been confirmed, the former offices of the Citizens Advice Bureau have been considered.

Robert Alexander, Local Democracy Reporting Service