Plans to sell Wokingham Borough Council’s headquarters at Shute End appear to have moved one step closer.
Councillors approved the borough’s local plan last month, which sets out how more than 11,000 homes will be delivered across Wokingham by 2040.
While thousands of homes were approved for Shinfield and Arborfield, the plan also included the potential to sell Wokingham Borough Council’s Shute End offices to become around 100 flats.
Although the sale of the building, as well as other council assets, was taken by the executive last year, its inclusion in the local plan means that it can actually go ahead.
Proceeds from any sale will go back into the authority’s own budget – which could help fund other projects.
The plans were exclusively revealed by Wokingham Today in September 2023.
At that time a spokesperson for Wokingham Borough Council told Wokingham Today: “We are looking at our staff offices and public reception because improved technology and modern working practices mean our Shute End building may not be needed in the future.”
During a lengthy full council meeting on September 19, former Labour borough councillor Andy Croy claimed that “.. any councillor who votes for the local plan is effectively ascending to the sale of this building for flats”.
Parts of the building have been council offices since 1939, used for various local government organisations over the decades. The bulk of the building was added in 1988.
Leader of the council, Cllr Stephen Conway, said he appreciated Mr Croy’s ‘romantic attachment’ to Shute End, and that a decision on where to move to would be taken early next year.
An executive report from September 2023 said that the council’s assets – including Shute End, the former M&S building and Gray’s Farm, would be worth nearly £42 million.
It said if included in the local plan, the assets would help the council achieve housing delivery targets, obtain optimal land value and promote affordable housing.
Councillor Conway said the potential office move was down to the current building being ‘very poorly designed’, which was ‘costing a lot to run’.
If remaining at Shute End, the council would have an “enormous” bill to make sure the building was up to energy efficient standards, according to Cllr Conway.
Reflecting on Mr Croy’s question, Cllr Conway explained: “I don’t think this is about saving money or making money.
“Staying where we are will involve a lot of expenditure.”
One of the potential new sites is the former Marks and Spencer’s store on Peach Street, which the council bought in 2017.
Leader of the Conservative opposition, Pauline Jorgensen, warned that the council ‘are jumping the gun quite a lot’.
She said the M&S site would be “completely inappropriate” because it has limited parking, and no formal meeting rooms.
She explained: “They need to start at the beginning, which is to talk about what sort of building they need for the council, rather than go the other way around.”
She said her party was “not particularly” against the council HQ moving or Shute End becoming flats, but that “.. the important thing is that we maintain the historic centre of Wokingham.
“The Shute End bit of Wokingham is very historical.
“I wouldn’t want to see the façade there, and the area, ruined by something out of character’.
Some Labour members of the council are against it being sold.
Councillor Alex Freeney explained: “Ultimately, we don’t want to see the council offices sold at all.
“As Andy Croy, it’s a source of civic pride.
“But if it’s going to be sold, and it looks like it is, we’d rather it be sold as council flats rather than luxury apartments.”
He argued that in this way, it would still be within the council’s remit, while also serving for the community’s ‘social benefit’.
Councillor Freeney said: “We have a tiny council housing roster in Wokingham, and we have such a massive waiting list and at the moment.
“I think the chances of some of the most valuable land in the borough being sectioned off for council housing is highly unlikely, but there would be huge social advantages to it.”
No formal decisions have been made. Whatever happens, Cllr Conway said a decision is needed in the “relatively near future”.
