A buyer has been lined up for Canterbury City Council’s dilapidated offices as the site is expected to be flattened for a new housing development.

The authority has confirmed a “prospective purchaser” has been found for its Military Road headquarters, where it has been since 1981.

It is set to start moving into swish new premises in the city centre at the end of this year, with its old office site earmarked for housing.

CCC leader Cllr Alan Baldock (Lab) told KentOnline: “The old office block needed a significant amount of money; it’s far too big and very inefficient energy-wise.

“It’s a huge office block, it's expensive to heat and needs lots of repairs done to it.

“So it’s a good time to move and match our future needs to a really good-quality, sensible building in the city centre.”

The authority previously planned to build a new office on the Wincheap industrial estate, with a budget of £12 million for the project, but the proposal was scrapped amid the pandemic and financial fears.

The council will instead occupy space in the Whitefriars shopping centre, having bought the entire retail site for a total of £155 million.

Most of the council’s staff will soon be based in a second-floor unit above the former Topshop.

Face-to-face appointments with residents will be held in a new reception in the old RBS site on Rose Lane, and empty space above Flying Tiger will be used for council storage.

“It’s a really positive move I think,” said Cllr Baldock.

“Getting people working in the city centre, bringing it alive, all of those things - having all of the staff there, being more accessible for people generally.”

He explained many council staff are no longer in the office five days a week, so less space is needed.

However, he added “the [new] council office is big enough to have plenty of staff that are working several days a week at the office”.

“All of our enforcement teams and housing and what have you can be comfortably accommodated in the new offices,” he explained.

Cllr Baldock also said the new premises will be “much more modern” than the rundown Military Road digs, and staff will be encouraged to use the Park and Ride service to travel to work where appropriate.

A council spokesman confirmed the office site and some of the nearby social housing estate is allocated in the draft Local Plan as “an opportunity site for new housing”.

"There's no specific number allocated within the plan and neither is there any specific type of housing allocated,” he said.

"We have a prospective purchaser and are working through the legal agreements with them. No contracts have been exchanged yet.

"The vast majority of staff will make their own travel arrangements as they do now, across a mix of the car, walking, cycling and public transport.

"The city centre location of the office makes the latter option a very good one and we imagine many will use the park and ride service.

"We have a small number of staff with specific parking needs and arrangements will be in place to allow them to park close to the office."