Cuts to government estate save £2bn

Work to reduce the size of the government estate has freed up land for development, including new housing, and secured more than £2bn over the past year, the Cabinet Office has claimed. The ‘State of the Estate 2018-2019’ report shows the government estate, which is made up of buildings across the country, is now 30 percent smaller than it was in 2010. In the past year, 339 former government sites have been disposed of, totalling 277,000 square metres – the equivalent of 39 football pitches. The cost of running the estate has also fallen by £50 million a year.

Cabinet Office minister Jeremy Quin said: ‘Reducing the size of the government estate saves taxpayers money. It also provides opportunities for both the commercial and residential sectors and helps drive efficiency across government.’

Sustainability work also means civil servants use 59 percent less paper than they did in 2010 and the carbon consumption of the estate has fallen by almost 50 percent.

[perfectpullquote align=”right” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]Sustainability work also means civil servants use 59 percent less paper than they did in 2010 and the carbon consumption of the estate has fallen by almost 50 percent.[/perfectpullquote]

While reducing the size of its estate, the government is also making the civil service less London-centric. A number of government ‘hubs’ are under development, with civil servants from different departments co-locating outside central London. Locations for hubs which have already been announced include Glasgow, Edinburgh, Newcastle, Leeds, Manchester, Liverpool, Belfast, Nottingham, Birmingham, Cardiff and Bristol.

Examples of government departments which have made large-scale land disposals include the Ministry of Defence, which released almost 4,500 acres of land for housing and commercial use between 2015 and 2019.

Some of the efficiency savings have proved controversial, with the National Audit Office warning last year that the government’s court closure programme has failed to address concerns about restricting access to justice. Since 2010, more than half of all magistrates’ courts in England and Wales have ceased operating and 133 tribunal, crown, county and family courts have closed.

Image: Derby Council Offices, courtesy of Costorphine + Wright