£24,000 to cover annual running costs of Woodleigh in Barnard Castle

COUNCIL tax payers in Barnard Castle are being asked to foot a 4.5 per cent increase in day-to-day running costs of the building used as the town council headquarters.

Town councillors backed proposals to set aside £16,000 in 2018/19 to cover the costs of Woodleigh, on Scar Top, which is home to the town council’s clerk, deputy clerk and two part time service assistants.

This would be an increase of £708 on the current year.

In addition to cleaning, maintenance and covering the costs of running office equipment, the money will also pay for a electricity.

Along with the £16,000 running costs, the town council also pays £8,000 a year to lease the building from Durham County Council, although it recoups some of that money by sub-letting rooms to Citizens Advice and Teesdale Day Clubs.

Woodleigh was bought for the town in the 1930s by solicitor J Ingram Dawson, who served as clerk to the then urban council.

It ended up in the hands of Durham County Council when Teesdale District Council was disbanded in 2009. The town council moved into the building in March last year.