WORCESTERSHIRE County Council’s bid to sell off County Hall has taken another step forward.
The authority has published a disposal notice for the sprawling Spetchley Road site on its website, which means it is looking to sell the land.
County Hall, built in the 1970s, was the council’s headquarters until 2024, when legionella bacteria was found in its water supply and its doors were shut for good.
DANGER: County Hall has attracted travellers and urban explorers in recent months (Image: Newsquest)
By then, parts of the site were already off-limits due to the presence of so-called ‘crumbling concrete’ – otherwise known as reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC).
Council staff have since been working from home or at the nearby Wildwood offices, with the majority of meetings taking place in either Kidderminster or Pershore.
The council’s former Reform administration last year signed off on plans to sell County Hall and said the process could take three years.
Councillors from various parties also agreed demolishing the site would save money in the long run, but no movement seems to have been made on that front – despite the building costing taxpayers more than a million pounds a year to sit empty.
In recent months, the site has attracted travellers and self-titled urban explorers .
Now a ‘notice of intention to dispose of open space’ at County Hall has appeared on the council’s website, referring to land and buildings at the site.
It says the council “intends to dispose of the whole or part of the land and building having an area of up to approximately nine hectares.
“The property includes areas which consist or may be deemed to consist of public open space.”
The notice states that objections to the disposal of the land must be made by September 3.
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At the time of writing, a link allowing residents to submit objections online was not working.
The council said people can also email s123countyhall@worcestershire.gov.uk or write to the assistant director for legal and governance.
A PDF link to plans of the property was also not working at the time of writing.
What has Worcestershire County Council said?
A council spokesperson said: “A statutory notice has been published as part of the legal process relating to the disposal of land at County Hall.
“The publication of the notice is carried out over two consecutive weeks and is a procedural step and does not represent a final decision on [the] area of land for disposal.
“There is now a formal period of 28 days from the first advert for representations, and any feedback received will be taken into account before the final site boundary for marketing and disposal is decided.”
