{"id":46008,"date":"2014-08-04T12:55:00","date_gmt":"2014-08-04T12:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?guid=8eb1a492ea7d4ac081bbbc3cd9255128"},"modified":"2014-08-04T12:55:00","modified_gmt":"2014-08-04T12:55:00","slug":"press-release-eric-pickles-to-save-taxpayers-220-million-as-he-bunks-in-with-the-home-office","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?p=46008","title":{"rendered":"Press release: Eric Pickles to save taxpayers \u00a3220 million as he bunks in with the Home Office"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Ministers and staff at the Department for Communities and Local Government have this week moved in with the Home Office, in a move to save taxpayers hundreds of millions of pounds.<\/p>\n

Local Government Secretary, Eric Pickles, ordered his department\u2019s relocation from its Eland House office in Victoria, returning to Marsham Street to share the Home Office\u2019s headquarters in Westminster. The National Audit Office has noted that the DCLG<\/abbr> move will save taxpayers an estimated \u00a3220 million over the remaining lifetime of the private finance initiative contract.<\/p>\n

Marsham Street was once the home of DCLG<\/abbr>\u2019s predecessor, the Department of the Environment. The department was moved in 1997 to become John Prescott\u2019s DETR<\/abbr> (Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions). It was later the home of Stephen Byers\u2019 DTLR<\/abbr> (Department of Transport, Local Government and the Regions), before becoming the ODPM<\/abbr> (Office of the Deputy Prime Minister) and then finally DCLG<\/abbr>.<\/p>\n

Completed in 1971, the old Marsham Street site had 3 tower blocks nicknamed \u2018the 3 ugly sisters\u2019. They were described in Sir Nikolaus Pevsner\u2019s architectural guides as \u201cthe very image of faceless bureaucracy\u201d. In 1992, Environment Secretary, Michael Heseltine, resolved to bulldoze the unsuitable and dysfunctional concrete towers. <\/p>\n

The government subsequently resolved to put in its place a purpose-built private finance initiative building for the Home Office, completed in 2005. By moving in, DCLG<\/abbr> saves taxpayers from having to pay the costs of its current Eland House site.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Eland House is being redeveloped into extensive shops and offices as part of the ongoing regeneration of the Victoria area of London. The new shop development has been nicknamed by some as the \u2018Pickles Plaza\u2019.<\/p>\n

Since he was appointed in 2010, Mr Pickles has waged war on waste at Eland House, include clamping down on corporate credit cards, scrapping the potted plant budget, and calling last orders at the department\u2019s in-house pub, the \u2018DETR<\/abbr> Darts Bar\u2019. The pot plants have been auctioned off, and the luxury, designer Parisian sofas purchased in 2009 will be reused elsewhere in government. <\/p>\n

The departmental portrait of Her Majesty the Queen is being put up in the reception area. The department intends to continue its practice of championing the flying of Britain\u2019s varied local and national flags to show pride in the United Kingdom\u2019s heritage and tradition.<\/p>\n

Eric Pickles, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, said:<\/p>\n

\n

There is still immense inefficiency across the public sector. By sharing services and streamlining our own back office, we are practising what we preach to town halls by illustrating the scope to save even more taxpayers\u2019 money. And in waving goodbye to the old building which will be turned into new shops and offices, we are also doing our bit to support the exciting regeneration of London\u2019s Victoria.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n
\n

Office address and general enquiries<\/h3>\n
\n

\n2 Marsham Street
\n
\nLondon<\/span>
SW1P 4DF<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n

\n Contact form<\/span>
\n http:\/\/forms.communiti…<\/a>\n <\/p>\n

\n General enquiries: please use this number if you are a member of the public<\/span>
\n 030 3444 0000\n <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

Media enquiries<\/h3>\n
\n
\n

\n Email<\/span>
\n communications-newsdesk@communities.gsi.gov.uk<\/a>\n <\/p>\n

\n Please use this number if you’re a journalist wishing to speak to Press Office<\/span>
\n 030 3444 1201\n <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ministers and staff at the Department for Communities and Local Government have moved in with the Home Office.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46008"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=46008"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46008\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=46008"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=46008"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=46008"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}