THE region’s largest local authority could be about to cut some of its offices in a bid to make savings, The Northern Echo has learnt.

A document circulating its headquarters in Durham City, and passed to the Echo, suggests that “office rationalisation and improvement could generate significant capital receipts” and lead to “reduced revenue expenditure”.

Durham County Council became an enlarged unitary authority after it merged with several smaller district councils in the region.

As a result, it now has as many as 80 offices, which house more than 5,000 staff and which cost more than £6.5m a year to run.

The document describes how many office buildings now belonging to the council have significant maintenance backlogs and are also struggling to comply with disability legislation.

It suggests that as part of a future shake-up, between three and five back office operational “hubs” accessible to the public will be provided within the main centres of County Durham – County Hall, Crook Civic Centre, Chester-le-Street Civic Centre and Spennymoor Green Lane.

The report says most of the county would be served from these hubs, although in the east, “hub accommodation”

would have to be found for the Peterlee and Easington areas.

A review of satellite offices will also take place with two smaller offices, Humber House, on the Belmont Industrial Estate, Durham, and Towneley House, in Stanley, which house 91 staff in total, possibly closing in the short term.

Council leader Simon Henig said he was unaware of the document – which also suggests staff can make more use of mobile and flexible working practices – and said there had been no political discussions about it.

Councillor Henig admitted that officer working groups had been set up to look at the assets of the new council as there were “so many buildings”, but no decisions had been taken.

He said: “I have no doubt that we may have to look at this in the long run, but we have not reached that point.

“We made a clear commitment to keep the civic centres and said in the immediate future they would remain and nothing has changed.

“That leaves us effectively with eight headquarters, but we know how important they are for their communities and they are often a town’s biggest employer.”

County councillor John Shuttleworth, who represents Weardale, said he feared closing offices would “kill the heart” of some communities.

A council spokeswoman said: “An interim office accommodation strategy is currently under development.

“This will set out the standards, levels of accommodation and facilities provided by offices within the authority’s property portfolio and will also include a project plan to support any relocation of services.

“Any decisions about accommodation changes will take into account the impact on town centre economies.

“As we outlined in our original bid for unitary status, the council is committed to creating sustainable communities by maintaining a workforce at locations around the county.”