The asbestos closure of Swale House is costing taxpayers nearly £4,000 in extra hire charges.

Alternative venues have been booked for 25 meetings which would normally have been held in Swale council's headquarters in East Street, Sittingbourne, until the end of December.

A couple of non-decision making meetings will be held remotely.

A council spokesman said: "Each venue is approximately £150 so it is a total of £3,750 in total. This will come out of our democratic services budget."

A licensing committee meeting to discuss pavement licences and taxi tariffs due to be held last Thursday had already been moved forward to October 4 and was held at Swale House before the office block was closed.

Details of the changes are on the council's website.

Citizens Advice Swale has had to find alternative methods of dealing with inquiries since the council buildings were closed and declared out of bounds after hidden asbestos was found around window frames. Those needing help should call Adviceline free on 0808 278 7979 or visit here.

Chief officer Mark Hinton said: "We are still juggling things and exploring a couple of alternative venues. At the moment, we have returned to what we were doing during the Covid-19 lockdowns and giving as much advice as possible remotely by phone or internet.

"It seems to be working. We also have our office in Stone Street, Faversham, where the more vulnerable and those who don't have access to phones or the internet can go for face-to-face meetings. We obviously made some short-term contingency plans when we heard Swale House was having to close. You tend expect asbestos to be found in buildings of that vintage."

The discovery of asbestos was made by contractors installing double-glazing as part of a £1.9m revamp of the 1970s building.

The council spokesman added: "Our rough sleeper team carries out an outreach service regularly around Swale to do welfare checks and talk to any rough sleepers in Swale. They are currently based between the Forward Trust offices in Sittingbourne and the Gateway in Sheerness.

"We would encourage anybody at risk of becoming homeless to contact us by phone. If they don’t have access to a phone, they can reach out to any of the government services in Swale that can call us on their behalf."

For help with housing, call 01795 417850 during office hours and 01795 417711 outside those hours.

The offices are to be closed until December 19. The Planning Committee meeting on October 13 was held at The Appleyard in Avenue of Remembrance, as was October 19's Policy and Resources Committee meeting.

Swale council also covers Sheppey and Faversham.