A COMMUNITY is campaigning for money to be spent on crime prevention rather than cushy new council offices.

Rayleigh Residents’ Association has called for Rochford Council to switch its budget priorities.

Mike Wilkinson, who set up the group, said: “Rochford Council has allocated £34,200 for the community safety budget for the entire Rochford district for this whole year.

“On the other hand, we now learn that Rochford Council has allocated an estimated £3.4million on regenerating its office suite and other buildings across the district to fund this.

“They are spending 99 times more on themselves and their new offices than on the safety of the community for the entire district.

“The money which we will need for our projects to keep the community safe and try to compromise for the lack of police.

“So, do the council really consider the safety of their community to be worth only one per cent of what they consider is reasonable to spend on themselves?

“The issue for me and for a lot of people is that for some reason Rochford Council seem to think that their offices must be in Rochford.

“There are other options available which I am not convinced have been explored.

“Options which are cheaper and will free up more money for other budgets such as community safety.

“My online petition is asking simply that they hold a full public consultation on the matter before it goes to full council.”

A spokesman for Rochford Council, said: “The programme is anticipated to deliver a reduction of future costs for the council in excess of £300,000 a year, as well as seeking to generate new revenue income streams.

“It is a financially prudent measure for the council to invest capital in schemes which deliver revenue savings and most authorities are rationalising their real estate portfolios for exactly this purpose.”

The council is planning to move into the Freighthouse leisure and events centre and for the Civic Suite to be redeveloped, potentially for homes.

There are also plans to redevelop part of the Mill Arts & Events Centre as part of the programme of work.

To view the petition and for more information, you can visit tinyurl.com/yxp8p5yh