New premises for Shefford Town Council

Builders are preparing to begin work at Shefford House in the High Street, where the council will be moving from its current offices in North Bridge Street.

The move will mean the council can operate from a considerably larger premises which will be more accessible to residents.

Shefford Town Council clerk Geoff Barham said: “Since we found the site and agreed to buy it last year we have been working hard to complete all the relevant paperwork before the building work starts.

“Work is about to begin and we don’t anticipate it taking longer than 10 weeks to complete.

“As long as the work is completed on schedule we are most likely to be looking at a moving date towards the end of October at the latest.”

Work at the premises will be completed in two phases.

A wall which divides two offices on the ground floor will be knocked down to create one large meeting room, while painting and decorating work will take place throughout the ground floor and also on the outside of the building.

One of the two car parking spaces outside the building will also be marked as disabled.

The clerk’s office will be redecorated along with the toilets.

Three further offices will be made available to rent, and decoration work will be carried out on these as and when they are leased out.

Mr Barham added: “To help pay for the building we have taken out a loan from the Public Works Loan Board, and any revenue we generate from letting out the offices can be used to help pay back the loan.

“It’s great to see the project come to fruition, especially as it has been in the pipeline for so long.

“When I was interviewed for my job here nine years ago they were talking about it then!”