Fury at £85,000 Shropshire Council office

Bosses at cash-strapped Shropshire Council will begin sharing a new £85,000 office at the Shirehall next week.

It is half the original cost as the council is said to be "conscious of the need to be sensitive" in the current financial climate. But today the move was described as "despicable" by a trade union leader as the unitary authority is trying to save more than £66 million over the next three years.

The council said changes to office spaces were part of a wider programme of improvements in staff accommodation at Shirehall, in Shrewsbury, with the corporate directors releasing unnecessarily spacious office suites for more effective uses.

But Patricia Wilson, branch secretary of Shropshire Unison, said staff would be incensed at the spending of so much money.

She said: "There wasn't a requirement or need for the chief executive to move anything at this time. If there was a cost implication it shouldn't have been touched. It is despicable. The timing is so insensitive."

Kim Ryley, council chief executive, said from Monday, he and the corporate directors, immediate support staff and key corporate service heads, would move into a shared open plan office.

He said the arrangement was a model of the council's new style of working and had several important advantages and benefits. However, he said, in the current financial climate, the council was conscious of the need to be sensitive.

Accordingly he had intervened to cut the original projected costs by 50 per cent to £85,000, he said.

"Changes have been ongoing for some time, with further moves expected to ensure that the Shirehall building is used to its maximum efficiency," said Mr Ryley.