Major plans for new council headquarters are a “pet project” which will gamble with taxpayer money, a councillor has warned.

South Oxfordshire District Council (SODC) has applied to build a four-storey office near Didcot Parkway to share with Vale of White Horse District Council

The plans are under consultation with a target decision date of November 1.

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Cllr Ian Snowdon, who represents Didcot West on SODC, argued the council should instead refurbish its current offices at Abbey House in Abingdon.

“I’m obviously against it,” he said. “We should refurbish and bring the Abbey House offices up to scratch.”

“There’s no need for it when so many officers work from home.”

The two authorities were forced to find a new office after the previous headquarters at Crowmarsh Gifford near Wallingford were burnt to the ground by arsonist Andrew Main on January 15, 2015.

A spokesperson for SODC said: "The opportunity to offer modern, sustainable office space for other businesses will help increase confidence for future business investment which, along with well designed public spaces, will help make Didcot a more attractive place to live, work and learn."

But Cllr Snowdon, who is the only remaining Tory councillor on SODC after a disastrous showing for the party at the local elections in May, disagreed.

“The headquarters are just a pet project for the new administration,” he said, in reference to the Liberal Democrats who now have control of both district councils.

He criticised the council’s plan to rent out some offices to businesses.

“It’s a gamble of money. They’re going to rent some out but there’s so many empty offices in Didcot already,” he said.

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“After the pandemic, there’s so many businesses working from home that office space is abundant. These plans were brought about before the pandemic.”

The planned building would be themed around the town’s railway heritage and would have ‘striking living walls’ of climbing plants along the brick wall façade.

“The hanging plants look wonderful when they’re up” said Cllr Snowdon, “but what happens when they die?

“It’s a perfect location. It should be the shop window of Didcot. For £25 million, residents would prefer a health hub rather than this expensive project.

“It’s not their money to gamble with.”

A spokesperson for SODC said: “Our current headquarters at Abbey House was always intended to be a temporary office space while we developed plans for our own headquarters. Abbey House doesn’t currently meet the needs of our workforce and would require significant funds to refurbish.

"Our proposed new headquarters at Didcot Gateway would provide a central location to both South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse districts, links to excellent public transport networks and helps us reduce our energy usage and ongoing costs.

"Overall, it would help provide a more sustainable and cost-effective office space long-term. Supported by the broader Didcot Gateway Masterplan, the proposed new headquarters also aims to revitalise this historically neglected site in Didcot which has been an eyesore for too long.

"The opportunity to offer modern, sustainable office space for other businesses will help increase confidence for future business investment which, along with well designed public spaces, will help make Didcot a more attractive place to live, work and learn.

"At the council meeting in February, a small group of councillors opposed the plan suggesting instead that the site should be used for housing, but the Council as a whole rejected this idea. Cllr David Rouane, leader of the council, said 'I think it’s incredibly out of touch with the people of Didcot to think that what the town needs is another large scale housing development beyond what is already planned.'