Lib Dem Distortion of Reality

The council has been accredited by the National Audit Office as giving excellent value for money and confirmed that HCC is the top performing county council in the land. HCC has saved £64m over the last four years, and will save a further £15m in 09/10.

Ashburton Court is a pre-1960s building and was in danger of being condemned.

Rather than spend £70m building a new HQ out of town and leaving Ashburton Court to be razed to the ground leaving an ugly derelict piece of land waiting for some developer to come along, we have invested £40m in refurbishing and modernising it.

Anyone with any eye to attractive buildings can now see as we come to the end of the re-cladding that Ashburton Court will be an attractive addition to Winchester, rather than the ugly Alcatraz Prison-like appearance that it once had.

Local residents certainly appreciate the change.

The cost of refurbishment remains at £40m to be met from capital receipts, which will include selling three of our nearby office blocks and relinquishing the lease of another.

The office will hold twice the number of staff in the same footprint and will halve our carbon footprint, and Government has recognised the project as a 'Best Practice' example of what can be achieved (see budget papers accompanying the 2009 budget speech by Alistair Darling and entitled 'Operational Efficiency').

To achieve 'open plan offices' we have invested £1.2m within the £40m in desks and partitions, and 80 per cent of the redundant desks are being transferred to our other premises of which we have 5,000.

It is alleged we have spent £12,000 on water taps.

No, the whole water system including trunking, electrics and installation cost £12,000 — not the taps, and all within the £40m.

Ashburton Court will be completed to time and to budget and will not impact on council tax.