Purpose

This report concerns the County
Council’s proposed use of serviced offices at the Tradewinds
Business Centre, Heath Place, Bognor Regis, West Sussex, PO22 9SL
to house the Customer Service Centre (CSC) and other staff
displaced by the closure of Durban House corporate office following
the recent flooding incident.
 
Over 500 staff have been displaced due to the
flooding at Durban House, with remediation works due to take
between 12-18 months. Some of these displaced staff have been
accommodated in County Hall, Chichester, but others need to be
located nearer to the displaced office base. 
 
A serviced office at the Tradewinds Business
Centre, located less than half a mile from Durban House has
suitable office accommodation to house the CSC staff for the period
they will be displaced or whilst long term options are
considered.
 
The funding, to cover all reasonable costs will
be recovered from County Council’s insurers under the
Council’s buildings insurance policy, subject to the policy
excess. 
 
Due to the need for this matter to be
determined as soon as possible, The Chairman of the Performance and Finance
Scrutiny Committee has been consulted and has approved the use of
the Urgent Action procedure. (County Council Constitution – Part 4,
Section 1, Standing Order 3.57 (Regulation 11)).  This decision did not feature in the
Council’s Forward Plan of Key Decisions as it was not
anticipated that a decision meeting the criteria would be
needed.  The decision is urgent
because delay will impact delivery of the Customer Service Centre
function.  
 

Decision

The Cabinet Member for Finance and Property
has:
 
1.         
Endorsed that West Sussex County Council enters into a licence
agreement for office accommodation at the Tradewinds Business
Centre, Heath Place, Bognor Regis, West Sussex, PO22 9SL for the
duration staff are displaced from Durban House which is estimated
to be 18 months from December 2023 and

 
2.         
Confirmed that authority is delegated to the Assistant Director of
Property and Assets and the Director of Law and Assurance, to
negotiate and agree terms of the occupational licence at the
Tradewinds Business Centre.