Hucclecote Centre to close 
The Hucclecote Centre will close as part of county council plans to reduce the number of buildings it uses over the next four years.
The county council is looking to generate up to £45million from reducing the number of buildings it operates from, sharing premises with partners and selling some land and property. These savings will help us to protect frontline services.
The Hucclecote Centre currently provides office accommodation for staff, who will now move to Shire Hall, and is a training and conference facility for schools.
To help us decide on the future of the site, we will soon begin a consultation with local people to hear their views. Firstly though, there will be an archaeological dig on the site, and it is hoped to get local schoolchildren involved if any remains are found. 
There could be significant Roman remains under the site, which could have an impact on how it can be used in future. The county council is starting an archaeological survey on February 21st. 
Consultation meetings with the community will take place once this survey is complete in the Spring, when there is a clearer idea of potential future uses for the site.
Cllr Mark Hawthorne, Leader of Gloucestershire County Council, said: “The closure of the Hucclecote Centre is part of our wider plans to make significant savings by reducing our office accommodation and the number of buildings our staff work out of. 
“We want to hear the views of as many local people as soon as possible during the consultation but first we need to get a better understanding of what’s under the site. If the archaeologists find anything of interest, it would be great to involve local schoolchildren to support their learning about the history of the area.”
Although the Hucclecote Centre brings in a small annual profit from its training and conference activities, it runs at an overall loss. It also has long term maintenance issues. The maintenance backlog is assessed at £2.3million.
Hucclecote County Councillor Bill Crowther said “This important and sensitive site in Hucclecote is used in part by the local community. The open space within the Hucclecote Centre is used by local rugby youth team, and the large car park is used on when events are being held at the adjacent Hucclecote Playing Field to avoid congestion on local roads.
“So what happens next will have quite an impact on our community in one way or another. The county council has agreed to my request that part of the consultation will include a drop-in session at the Hucclecote Centre. I hope as many residents as possible will take the opportunity to come along to the drop-in session and have their say.”
As schools’ budgets are increasing devolved away from the county council, they will have greater flexibility to buy training to suit their needs from any provider of their choice. The centre’s training activity has already reduced by 50%. The county council is talking to schools about how their training needs will be met in the future.
Staff remaining at the centre will be relocated to Shire Hall between now and September 2011. The centre will close as a conference facility in March 2011.