HEREFORDSHIRE Coun-cil now has its heart set on a £17 million dream home that it says the downturn gives it the best ever chance to buy.

The council’s cabinet passed the plan to make the former Bulmers offices in Plough Lane, Hereford, its new HQ saying the present state of the property market made a long-cherished purchase possible.

But if market conditions were good, they came with a “buyer beware” warning about how the project – details of which were revealed by the Hereford Times last week – was a tough sell in tough times, members heard.

Opposition leader Coun-cillor Terry James said that the wider public already saw the new HQ as a “palace for penpushers” being pitched at the worst possible time.

All sides supported the Plough Lane plan, and the council’s negotiating position, when cabinet met to make its decision last Thursday.

Members were convinced by the prospect of big savings from putting almost all of the council’s scattered offices, many of them in a sorry state, onto a single site shared with NHS Herefordshire.

Sites used by both bodies would then be sold off to raise further funds.

There is no space in the scheme for a purpose-built council chamber and it was thought that the existing Brockington headquarters would be retained for meetings.

However, in a crucial concession, cabinet heard that Brockington would be sold too if a business case was made for doing so, with Hereford Shirehall or the Town Hall as possible alternative meeting places.

As proposed, the deal sees the council buying and adapting the Plough Lane site, which it currently leases, for some £17 million over three years.

Nearly £15 million will be borrowed – pushing the council’s overall debt to around £130 million – and the rest found through the authority’s own funds.

With the purchase, the council would also get adjacent land to expand a site that needs to take at least 1,600 staff.

Cabinet backing means council officers can start preparing detailed designs and specifications for the project, with the final plan probably getting a go-ahead later this year.