A COUNCILLOR has said a cash-strapped council “needs to accept the fact that there’s no hope at all” at renting out the top two floors of its headquarters.

Members sitting on the joint place and customer and community scrutiny panel heard Slough Borough Council will be unable to garner £1.3m from rental income for the Observatory House in Windsor Road.

The original business case for the council HQ, which was bought for £39m in 2018, was for the local authority to move its operations into one spot and rent out the top two floors of the six-storey building to businesses or public bodies, such as the NHS.

Because the council needs to sell up to £600m worth of its assets to reduce its £760m borrowing debt, council leader James Swindlehurst (Lab: Cippenham Green) previously said they are planning to move out.

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According to Richard West, one of the authority’s executive directors, they did show potential renters around the building but were advised not to pursue this as it could affect its ability to sell Observatory House.

Speaking at the meeting on Wednesday, December 7, Cllr Safdar Ali (Lab: Central) said: “Under the current situation, I think we need to be realistic and accept the fact that there’s no hope at all because a lot of people are working from home and there’s a lot of empty office space around the town centre.”

Pat Hayes, executive director for housing and property, explained the council is looking at a range of options for Observatory House.

This includes bringing other public sector bodies to the building, such as the police or the NHS, or selling the freehold and remaining as the head leasee.

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He said: “[Observatory House] is a good quality building and it’s a good quality asset. It’s just how we use it in the current market and how we make the best value out of that building over the next few years.

“It’s a difficult time for office. You wouldn’t want to sell it as a vacant possession, but it still has very significant value both to us and the broader community and as a commercial asset.”