Two opposition councillors receive flak for question about office building occupancy

Richard Youle – Local democracy reporter

The leader of a city council has lashed out at two opposition councillors after they asked who would be occupying a new office building in the local authority.

Cllr Rob Stewart was critical of Cllrs Peter May and Stuart Rice, claiming they didn’t appear to believe in Swansea or want to attract good jobs.

The Uplands Party duo, who represent Swansea’s Uplands ward, had asked in writing who would be occupying a new public sector hub in the light of low occupancy rates of Welsh Government offices in Wales.

BBC Wales reported last month that Welsh Government office staff were expected to be present at their office 40% of the time – equating to two days a week – but that daily attendance was 16% in March this year on average and 10% in an office in Penllergaer, Swansea. Clls May and Rice quoted the two latter figures in their question.

Support

The public sector hub is a joint Swansea Council and private sector project. It has planning permission and will be built on land at the former St David’s shopping centre near St Mary’s Church.

The written response by Labour leader Cllr Stewart began: “Cllrs May and Rice as the residual two Uplands Party members, having recently lost 50% of their elected members, don’t appear to have confidence in our city.

“They don’t appear to share the vision for the city and do not appear to support the actions to increase growth, jobs, and opportunities in Swansea.
This is not surprising given their continued narrow focus on Uplands, which is at odds with how most councillors act. Most councillors work for the good of the entire city and county of Swansea, as well as their ward.”

The Uplands Party had four councillors until recently – two of them, Cllrs Sandra Joy and Alan Jeffery, are now independent.

Confidence

Cllr Stewart then claimed Clls May and Rice had tried to remove funding from the council’s capital expenditure programme which he said would have eroded confidence in the city.

The response goes on to refer to the public sector hub, which will have four floors of office space – one to be occupied by the council itself – above a commercial groundfloor.

Cllr Stewart said contractor Andrew Scott Ltd had been appointed to build it, and added: “Negotiations are actively progressing with a range of public sector bodies, from UK and Welsh governments, reflecting the building’s primary purpose as a public sector hub.”

Cllr Stewart then referred to a cabinet decision from January which approved the marketing of the building to the private sector as a secondary measure. He said this approach aimed to maximise rental opportunities and address a shortfall in high quality office space in the city.

He said the identities of hub tenants would be announced once relevant agreements were in place, and that demand at the council’s recently-completed office development off The Kingsway was strong.

This nearby office development, called 71/72 The Kingsway, has three confirmed tenants to date – travel firm TUI, workspace provider IWG, and financial company Futures First.

Cllr Stewart’s response concluded by saying it was “disappointing but not surprising” that Cllrs May and Rice “don’t appear to believe in Swansea, don’t appear to want to attract new jobs and opportunities to Swansea”. According to the Labour leader this was at odds with not only the Labour administration but “the council more generally”.

Cllr May, the Uplands Party leader, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service it wasn’t the first time, in his view, that Cllr Stewart had “tried to put a different narrative in an answer to avoid answering the facts”. He also claimed he’d been on the receiving end of a “viscious personal attack” from the leader after asking a question about a cycle lane consultation.

“I don’t know why he thinks I’m so important,” said Cllr May.