800 pieces of furniture sent to tip from Bucks Council’s closed offices

The furniture came from King George V House in Amersham, which the council formally agreed to sell to a developer in September.

Some 800 items were sent to recycling centres in Buckinghamshire, the council said in response to a freedom of information request by the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS).

Another 117 pieces of furniture were sent for community use such as charities, medical centres and care homes, while 323 items of furniture were relocated to other council locations.

The council was approached for details of the furniture after concerns were raised by an individual connected with King George V House alleging that many items were being thrown away.

John Chilver, the council’s cabinet member for accessible housing and resources, told the LDRS: “We closed our King George V office earlier this year as part of our reduction in overall office space since we became a unitary authority in 2020.

“As part of this closure, we had a surplus of equipment, including desks, chairs and storage units. We have been careful to ensure that all of these items have been recycled or repurposed – including the gifting of 117 items of furniture to local charities, medical centres and care homes.”

The council said the furniture at the offices included 240 chairs, 120 desks, 40 meeting tables, nine meeting pods and 40 storage units.

It did not provide a breakdown of furniture that had been thrown away but said items it had not been able to redistribute ‘have been recycled’.

The council’s freedom of information response described the furniture as ‘worthless commercially’ as it was either old, damaged or in poor condition.

It read: “We have redistributed the furniture where we can and those that have not, have been sent to our recycling centres.

“The cost of continuing to store furniture where it no longer has a use and cannot be redistributed is cost prohibitive.”

The council said it had attempted, ‘with some success’, to find a new home for furniture, with items ‘left over’ having been sent to recycling centres.

Cabinet members of the unitary authority accepted an offer for its former offices on King George V Road from an anonymous developer in September.

Following a confidential part of a council meeting, leader Martin Tett said the sale would bring in ‘a substantial capital sum’ the authority ‘desperately needed’.

Asked for more detail earlier this month, Councillor Tett said he could not say much other than the redevelopment of the offices was ‘almost certain to be residential’ and it seemed to be a ‘done deal’.

The council said the Amersham offices had space for 526 desks but were only at 16 per cent capacity after the Covid-19 pandemic.