Converting some of East Sussex's County Hall offices into housing suggested by Lib Dems

In a recent statement, Cllr David Tutt, leader of the council’s Liberal Democrat group, announced plans to put forward a budget amendment aimed at reducing the amount of office space used by the authority.

This, Cllr Tutt said, could be achieved by repurposing part of County Hall, the authority’s headquarters in Lewes, into affordable housing.

Cllr Tutt said: “With the ending of the pandemic, many staff have continued to work from home, which is better for the environment and allows more flexibility for our staff.

“However, this has also meant that large areas of County Hall remain empty for much of the week, costing the council money. In the current economic crisis, we believe that this money would be better spent on frontline services rather than empty office buildings.

“We are therefore putting in a budget amendment to request the county council to assess the use of space at County Hall and to determine if part of the building could be repurposed, for example, as housing, partnering with a housing association.

“This could provide some real wins for local residents in an area where housing is in short supply and expensive.”

The council is looking at how it uses space following the pandemic.

An East Sussex County Council spokesperson said: “Working styles have changed since the pandemic and the council has for some time been considering what effect this might have on our property requirements.

“Work has started to look at the options for our sites and this includes County Hall.”