HEREFORDSHIRE Council is ready to downsize the “dream home” it put on hold earlier this year.

Any extension of the council’s Plough Lane offices is likely to be ruled out when cabinet meets today (Thursday).

The huge staff-only car park that came with the plan is set to go too.

The council bought the Plough Lane block from Bulmers for £4 million in 2009, with the intention of it being a single site HQ shared with what was then NHS Herefordshire, now Wye Valley NHS Trust.

Later that year the council also bought adjacent land with the intention of extending the site.

Ambitions for the site have since been scaled back markedly as both the economy and the council’s finances nosedived.

In April this year, the Hereford Times revealed that the HQ plan had been put on hold ahead of the council elections, leaving any decision on the project’s progress to a new authority.

By June, the actual number of staff moving into the site was under review as the council cut jobs and implemented a major savings programme.

The 1,150 originally making that move from various council and NHS sites is now down to about 800 and could go even lower.

The cabinet will hear that capital costs for a scheme accommodating 800 staff are estimated at around £8.8m. Current estimates for capital raised by sites the council can sell off through the move are about £5.3m.

The council’s current capital programme provides for some £17m to be spent on “corporate accommodation” of which just over £6m has been spent to date.

Money saved with Plough Lane would be invested in another of the council’s pet projects, a new base for archives and modern records.

Meanwhile, although Plough Lane is being cut back, the council is pressing on with plans for a purpose-built debating chamber.

The cabinet will hear this afternoon that Hereford Shirehall is the favoured location for the new chamber.