The complete costs of running Staffordshire Moorlands District Council's offices at Moorlands House in Leek has been revealed.

The costs were revealed at a meeting of the council's Resources Overview and Scrutiny Panel held this morning (Wednesday 20th July).

Cllr Linda Malyon raised concerns that the building may have been racking up costs despite few people occupying it due to Covid restrictions.

She asked: "How much has it cost to run Moorlands House during the last three years, with hardly anyone in the building yet all lights and heating is still used?"

However, a response was given which explained that the cost of running the building has been decreasing over the last three years.

The total net cost of running the building in 2021/22 was £192,691 compared to £265,797 in 2020/21 and £335,022 in 2019/21.

It means that over the last three years the council has had a net spend over £790,000 on running the building.

A response given by Cllrs James Aberley and Mike Worthington said: "The costs of electricity and gas have fallen since 19/20 pre-covid but, perhaps more significantly, the costs of cleaning and caretaking as well as repairs and maintenance are lower due to fewer staff in the building.

"Clearly, there is always a base cost as there have been skeleton staff in the building and it is necessary to still have heat and light to ensure continuity of services, not just for us, but for our partners; the NHS, Staffordshire County Council, Your Housing and Leek CAB.

"Income levels have remained steady apart from "Room Hire", which was suspended when we had to shut the buildings to the public. Significant savings from Cleaning and Caretaking were developed through not replacing some staff that left and/or retired during the last few years. It has not been necessary to replace them with fewer staff in the building."

The full breakdown of costs for each year can be seen in the table below.