CABINET members at East Hampshire District Council are set to agree spending £150,000 to gain planning permission for houses to replace the council office at Penns Place.

Demolishing the office building and relocating staff and councillors elsewhere is seen as an ‘option’ at the moment.

But council leader Richard Millard admits that spending tax payers money to that extent must deliver a return.

He said: “I agree spending that amount indicates a clear intent, and it’s an absolutely good direction of travel for the council.”

And cabinet papers recommend the council’s director of corporate services be allowed to spend up to £150,000 to ‘pursue planning consent for residential development in relation to the existing Penns Place Council Offices site.’

But the council insists applying to build houses there isn’t a forgone conclusion.

It says the proposal, although serious, is still just an “option” for the future of the ageing office block.

But since the start of the pandemic last year, it has become clear the council wants to leave its home since it came into being on April 1, 1974.

And as the district council and Havant Borough Council staff merger gains momentum, it is unclear where EHDC could relocate to.

To reach the point of submitting plans for the office block, council car park and land behind it, could take about 18 months.

Cllr Millard added: “If it happens, I would like to see a blend of market value and affordable housing, and perhaps some commercial provision, a mix.”

And there is the future of Petersfield’s bastion of law and order, the police ‘suite’ in the Penns Place offices, to consider.

When Petersfield Museum bought the police station in St Peters Road, no other premises in the town were suitable for use by the police, and there were fears they would leave the town altogether.

But after a lengthy and costly delay as secure phone lines had to be installed, the remaining officers moved to Penns Place.