TORY -led Cheshire West and Chester Council wants to spend almost £20m buying offices in the new HQ building overlooking the racecourse.

The figure was revealed by Labour opposition leaders whose concerns over “best use of public money” led to the proposal being referred to the council’s corporate scrutiny panel at last Wednesday’s executive.

The Chronicle recently revealed the Tories’ secret plans to sell County Hall to Chester University for £10m and relocate council staff within the £80m HQ building across the road, which will also include a hotel, restaurants and apartments.

Labour opposition leader Cllr Derek Bateman said: “This is probably the single biggest piece of expenditure the new council is likely to incur and we need to be satisfied that it is a good use of public money and the purchaser of County Hall has good intentions for the future.

“That is why we have called for greater transparency and discussion on the proposals. Labour’s view is neither in support nor against, we just want to exercise ‘due diligence’ to the proposals.”

Labour finance spokesman Cllr Justin Madders said: “When the council is talking about making cuts throughout all its services there needs to be a very good case made that spending such a large amount of public money on new offices is the best use of scarce resources.

“There appears to have been no real strategy forthcoming from the Tories on this. For example, where is the council going to be meet in future? What is going to happen to all the other council buildings, many of which will have to be sold to pay for this? Which other large projects are going to be put on ice to pay for this?”

“We welcome the fact that this decision is going to be the subject of greater scrutiny as we will need to be convinced that new offices for senior staff and councillors is the best use of public money. We also think the council should give the public the opportunity to have a say on this.”

Council leader Cllr Mike Jones will not talk about the plans in detail but has confirmed the unsuitability of County Hall for modern purposes and the desire to slash the number of operational offices from 24 to three.

A council spokesman said: “This council is pledged to make the best use of its resources and get best value for money. It goes without saying, therefore, that any financial decision will be made along these lines.”