Civil servants could face £660,000 bill if jobs leave town (From The Northern Echo)
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Warning over increased travel costs for workers at Mowden Hall, Darlington
6:00am Thursday 14th February 2013 in News
Exclusive By Steven Hugill
Mowden Hall, Darlington
WORKERS at a Government department which could moved from a North-East town may be forced to pay more than £660,000 in extra travel costs every year if their jobs are relocated, it is claimed.
About 480 civil servants posts at Mowden Hall, in Darlington, could see their roles transferred from the town in a Department for Education (DfE) cost-cutting review.
The DfE say Mowden Hall is too expensive to repair, but says it is committed to keeping the jobs in the North-East and has earmarked sites in Darlington, Durham and Newcastle.
Workers say they will be unable to afford to leave Darlington, and have backed calls from union officials and the town's MP, Jenny Chapman, to retain their posts at Lingfield Point and Northgate House, in Darlington.
John Orchard, director of Marchday, which owns Lingfield Point, said any move out of Darlington would have a significant impact on workers and the environment.
He said: “Not all the workers would make the move and some may choose to leave, but the aim at the moment is not to displace people from their jobs.
“If all the staff that did stay were moved to Newcastle, and travelled there by car every day, that would mean combined journeys of four-and-a-half million miles every year.
“The cost of fuel would also be shocking with a 47-week year costing workers a combined £664,000.”
Mrs Chapman said: “When you look at the extortionate travel costs and the massive impact on the carbon footprint, it makes simple and sustainable common sense to keep these important jobs in Darlington.”
The Education Secretary, Michael Gove, previously told The Northern Echo that Darlington was “still on the radar” as a venue to house DfE staff.
He said: “There are some brilliant civil servants working at Mowden Hall and their work is fantastic.
“We are sensitive that people put down roots and have families with children in local schools.
“For that reason, Darlington is still very much on the radar to house our staff.”
A Northern Echo-led petition against any move out of Darlington, attracted more than 1,100 signatures and will be presented to Mr Gove at Downing Street by The Northern Echo and Mrs Chapman.
Comments(20)
stevegg
says...
11:49am Thu 14 Feb 13
freelance
says...
12:42pm Thu 14 Feb 13
e.g. % living in Darlington Town
% living in elsrwhere in
Darlington Borough
% living outside Darlington
Borough
Spy Boy
says...
3:44pm Thu 14 Feb 13
stevegg wrote:Isn't it obvious ? Developer sees a site, talks to Tory chums and sees how to close building, knock it down, get land for coppers and build expensive West End housing on the spot. Blow the employees. Who cares about the little people. If the building goes, the jobs go too. No one is going to relocate them anywhere in Darlo. As for the travelling costs. If the work is moved more than 15Km the people don't have to move with it. They can just take their redundancy. How much more will this cost ? You can't force people to move away. Newcastle is too far. We need to keep these jobs.
Ive always wonderd why the West end is excluively residential; the vast majority of social housing, and all supermarkets, shops, industry, commerce, business etc crammed into the East side of Darlington and Northern corridoor. As house prices can be double or more than those in the East it effectively eliminates normal working people living there unless your on a good wage thus segregating the population (the haves and have nots). One of the only commercial buildings in the West end is now on the verge of closing with talk of it moving to the East side of town. What is going on here???
Homshaw1
says...
4:27pm Thu 14 Feb 13
I wiould have though Lingfield Point was superb and not having to pay £660K in travel costs and holding onto trained skilled labour a real bonus
Taxpaying Homeowner
says...
5:13pm Thu 14 Feb 13
The reason Mowden Hall is closing is that it is no longer a viable office. No responsible organisation would not look to relocate for the sake of doing so. Lots of decisions are made including running costs, maintenance/repair costs and capacity. This site was built many years ago, the repair costs are too expensive to make it work as a Taxpayer funder Public Sector office.
Freelance makes a great point, what are the reporters figures based on??
It's worth pointing out that many people have long commutes to their workplace and office relocations do happen. The trave;l costs are not extortionate, they are standard costs that I guess have been extrapolated out on a figure assuming all current staff will transfer to Newcastle and travel from Darlington.
More sloppy reporting from an ever more left wing publication!!!
Darlington1
says...
9:34am Fri 15 Feb 13
sarahd
says...
10:57am Fri 15 Feb 13
I moved to the west end at the age of 27, working part time(in an office) and my husband working full time, both in 'normal' jobs with normal pay. I agree that some houses in the west end are out of reach of a lot of people but if you budget right (we don't smoke, have one car, rarely go out), 'normal' people can afford to live there too (in the lower end price bracket).
Spy Boy
says...
2:42pm Fri 15 Feb 13
Homshaw1 wrote:It's going to be expensive. Lingfield Point may be the answer, but I feel that if it's being relocated the D of E would rather move it away to Newcastle to existing premises. They won't be looking to incurr extra costs to move it from one Darlington site to another.
Spy Boy Why is it not possible to locate elsewhere in Darlington?
I wiould have though Lingfield Point was superb and not having to pay £660K in travel costs and holding onto trained skilled labour a real bonus
The building is not in good condition. That's mainly because of the design and the lack of maintenance work being done. It's one of those modern ( Once ) bui;dings that is expensive to run. Expensive to maintain. Even more expensive to update. Very expensive to replace. Who's bothered about losing expertise ? The D of E only think in terms of cutting costs. Skilled labour is a thing of the past. They'd rather pay peanuts to monkeys than decent wages to skilled and experienced people. That's why things keep going wrong in government these days. Too many vacuous pencil pushers with no experience or interest.
As for moving : Have employees actually looked at this ? Are they sure that it's not just a way of getting people on Final Salary pensions pushed out before their time and so saving the department millions in pension payments. They need to look long and hard at this. This happened to me and a lot of people I worked with. The company targeted all those on Final Salary Pensions to save them having to pay money into the pot. We lost many thousands of pounds in pension payments.
Bottom Line. Keep the jobs in Darlington. Ask to see the figures regarding moving the employees and check your pensions.
hemmi1
says...
5:22pm Fri 15 Feb 13
victorjames
says...
4:30pm Sat 16 Feb 13
hemmi1 wrote:It's people like you, the children of Thatcher who have made this country what it is today. Sod you I'm alright. The "pampered" office workers are fellow citizens with all the worries that normal working people have.
no one pays my travel costs to work. close mowden hall down build a much needed drug rehabilitation centre on the site and re employ the pampered office workers in the pound shop
hemmi1
says...
6:06pm Sat 16 Feb 13
victorjames wrote:well before thatcher mate
hemmi1 wrote:It's people like you, the children of Thatcher who have made this country what it is today. Sod you I'm alright. The "pampered" office workers are fellow citizens with all the worries that normal working people have.
no one pays my travel costs to work. close mowden hall down build a much needed drug rehabilitation centre on the site and re employ the pampered office workers in the pound shop
behonest
says...
6:45pm Sat 16 Feb 13
Regarding these civil servants; perhaps someone can correct me if I'm wrong but I believe that any of them that have to move to, say Newcastle, will be re-imbursed the excess travel costs they incur by having to move, and this will continue to be paid to them for about 4 years? Also, I think the extra travelling time will be part of their working hours, not their own time. Quite right too.
greenfinger
says...
6:05pm Sun 17 Feb 13
behonest
says...
9:15pm Sun 17 Feb 13
greenfinger
says...
9:50pm Sun 17 Feb 13
behonest
says...
11:26pm Sun 17 Feb 13
Yes, if it moves to Durham then any worker from Spenny will probably be chufffed.
greenfinger
says...
5:52pm Mon 18 Feb 13
lechef
says...
10:04am Tue 19 Feb 13
the-big-yin
says...
5:15pm Tue 19 Feb 13
freelance wrote:WOW...£664,000 IN TRAVEL COSTS
It would be interesting to know where the 480 employees reside------
e.g. % living in Darlington Town
% living in elsrwhere in
Darlington Borough
% living outside Darlington
Borough
WORKS OUT AT AROUND £30 A WEEK FOR EACH WORKER...I PAY OVER £50 A WEEK AND ONLY EARN £228 A WEEK...
WELCOME TO THE REAL WORLD...SURPRISED THEY DO NOT GET TRAVEL ALLOWANCE...
GET IT MOVED AS SOON AS POSSIBLE....I BET THE WHINGING WORKERS SOON STOP TWISTING ABOUT THE MOVE WHEN THEY HAVE TO TRAVEL 90 MINUTES EACH WAY IF THEY WERE LOOKING FOR A JOB ON THE DOLE...
Kinninvie says...
11:05am Thu 14 Feb 13
Get it shut down and moved somewhere more suitable therefore freeing the site for more desperately needed housing.