Labour-run Haringey Council spends nearly half a million pounds a year on a building which is massively under-occupied. The Civic Centre building in Wood Green, which hosts the council meetings and is the base for the registrars’ service, is more than half empty.
In fact only 43% of the office block is currently used. This is despite the council spending £400,000 a year on the running costs for the Civic Centre.
The opposition Lib Dem councillors, who uncovered the shocking waste, have called on the council to move staff from the Civic Centre to the council’s other office buildings which have space for more staff. The politicians say that council meeting could be held in Tottenham Town Hall or Alexandra Palace and committee meetings could take place in the council’s other offices.
The Lib Dems believe that the Civic Centre should be emptied and then knocked down to make way for more council homes. The Labour run council has failed to build any new council homes for 25 years, even though ten thousand families are on the council’s housing waiting list.
The Lib Dem amendment to the council’s budget in February to build more council homes was rejected by the Labour councillors who voted against it.
The opposition have repeatedly raised issues with housing in the borough and have claimed that there is a housing crisis in Haringey. London Assembly Member Caroline Pidgeon recently visited the Civic Centre and joined Lib Dem councillors in their call for new council homes.
Cllr Richard Wilson, Lib Dem Housing spokesperson, comments:
“I was shocked to discover that the Labour council is wasting such large amounts of taxpayers’ money maintaining a building that is more than half empty. The Civic Centre is in a terrible condition and is no longer needed. It should be knocked down as soon as possible to make way for new council homes.
“There is a housing crisis in Haringey that Labour is failing to tackle. Ten thousand families are on the council waiting list; local people have waited 25 years since the last council home was built - how much longer is Labour going to make them wait?”
Cllr Paul Strang, Lib Dem Finance spokesperson, comments:
“Labour keeps making the same mistakes over and over again with the public’s money. They lack imagination in facing up to the financial challenge and are spending money on the wrong things.
“Residents pay the 5th highest council tax in London and rightly expect the money to be spent well and not wasted. Labour seems to be incapable of making the right decisions, of cutting waste and keeping on budget as shown by the recent massive £6m overspend on the Rhodes Avenue School project.”