Rotherham Council questioned over occupancy rate of Riverside House – costing taxpayers ‘£5m per year’

Riverside House on Main Street houses RMBC’s customer services, council housing department, council tax enquiries, benefits enquiries, a library, a cafe and registry office.

The leader of the opposition party on Rotherham Council today told a meeting that the building currently has a 31 per cent occupancy rate, and costs the taxpayer £5m per year.

Councillor Simon Ball, leader of Rotherham;s Conservative Group, asked today’s cabinet meeting: “With Riverside costing Rotherham taxpayers just shy of £5m per year, do you think that it’s acceptable to have an average occupancy rate of just 31 per cent?”

“£5m for 31 per cent occupancy rate is just not right, at all for any business to continue.”

Councillor Chris Read, leader of the Labour-run council, told the meeting that a ‘significant’ saving had been made when a contract was renegotiated ‘a few years ago’.

“What we’ve got in terms of occupancy is a situation that a lot of councils have after covid, where clearly, working from home or working elsewhere has moved on.

“There’s some work being done about that now as we get a bit wiser coming out of covid, so there will be a further piece of work that will come back through staffing commitee over the coming months, that will look at that gain.

“My expectation is that our occupancy level will rise over a period of time, but the key thing is that services are delivered effectively for the public.”