Business centre under review leaving county jobs at risk

The future of up to 21 local authority jobs at a Rooksbridgebusiness centre is under review.

The jobs of people employed by Somerset County Council could bemoved and the offices at The Stables Business centre closed as partof plans to reduce council spending.

The council employs the 21 people in Rooksbridge as part of theSouth West One contract negotiated with IBM.

A list of more than 30 offices in Somerset being reviewed wasdiscussed by the council's scrutiny committee at a meeting held lastThursday at Taunton County Hall.

In the review, which is entitled the property rationalisationprogramme report, it said that the plan is to reduce 32 offices downto between five and ten.

It states: "The provision of office accommodation will be reducedsignificantly - the target is a 40 per cent reduction in officespace.

"We are at an early stage in this project with no decisions madeyet on the number and locations of offices.

"We are still assessing the most suitable sites to retain and useas office bases."

The council is considering whether to reduce office centres sothere is one large office for all county functions in each countyarea, with one satellite office as support.

The project, called Somerset Office of the Future, aims toincrease the number of council staff who work from home or remotely,and offices would be shared with authorities such as Mendip DistrictCouncil and the police. The county council has decided that reducingthe number of buildings it uses below the current target would costtoo much, as staff would have to be paid relocation expenses.

Staff would have their workload analysed to find out whether theyneed a fixed desk in an office, or could work elsewhere.

The council is also considering selling county hall in Tauntonand moving to a new, cheaper site.

The scrutiny committee endorsed the review at the meeting.