A fresh bid has been made for cash-strapped Tendring Council to sell its ‘mausoleum’-like Weeley offices.

The council in 2013 decided to centralise its operations in Clacton, with other premises in the district also closing, but this did not happen.

Now, on Tuesday, the council will discuss a motion for such a sale to help the council “fund serious budget gaps in order to run basic services.”

“We are looking at a budget gap of £3.5 million over the next two years, we are in crisis,” said mover Coun Joy Broderick of Holland-on-Sea Residents Group.

The Haven Ward councillor said staff numbers have already been cut so the council needed to look elsewhere for savings.

“This building and its running costs is a luxury that the Council can no longer sustain or justify,” she said.

“It is a remote location to most users, antiquated, uninviting and totally inadequate for planning committee public attendance. This 'mausoleum' sends out a message to Tendring residents and tax payers that Tendring Council is old fashioned and has money to burn,” she said.

The offices on Thorpe Road are used by a variety of council departments, in addition to Clacton Town Hall. The building opened in 1939 for the former Tendring Rural District Council, with the current council taking over after its 1974 creation.

Tendring chief executive Ian Davidson said council must save £3.5million in coming years, which follows a cut in its budget of £12 million over the past five years. The council has an annual net revenue of £14 million.

The council had already cut staff and made other efficiencies. Selling the site would be part of a rationalisation of properties. It needed investment to handle new technology, he said, so “whatever we do, there would be costs involved.”

“We have to look at all the options. Our concern is to protect frontline services rather than buildings,” Mr Davidson added.

Council leader Neil Stock said the council must consider its assets but relocating everything to Clacton Town Hall could be problematic as using Princes Theatre for events like this week’s Standards Committee meeting would mean it “stops doing pantomimes” which would also “cost the council money.”

“We must consider the implications. It’s not something you can make a knee-jerk reaction on,” he said.

Opposition UKIP group Mark Stephenson was undecided, saying a sale would need to be discussed at full council before a decision was pushed to a cabinet meeting.