RYEDALE District Council (RDC) is looking at creating a community hub in an effort to deliver long-term savings.

Council officers are working on a business case to look at the possibility of sharing a site with other organisations, with the aim that this would be on the site of the current Community House in Wentworth Street, Malton.

The council says its current home, Ryedale House, no longer meets the needs of an organisation that works very differently to when the current building first opened in the 1970s, and maintenance costs at the site are becoming an increasing burden.

Alongside the work to create a single community hub, a number of other options will also be considered, including the redevelopment of Harrison House, near Malton railway station, or the possibility of a joint new development with existing neighbouring sites.

Having agreed to support the development of a waste transfer station at Kirby Misperton, in partnership with North Yorkshire County Council and Yorwaste, the district council also wants to look at the possibility of relocating Streetscene services from the current depot in Showfield Lane, in Malton.

Councillor Luke Ives, chairman of the RDC’s policy and resources committee, said: “We’ve set out a bold ambition for how we can change the way we use our buildings to support public services across Ryedale.

“By working with others we want to help deliver savings across the board and make it easier for organisations to work together – this will help to deliver better services in the long-run, more cost-effectively.”

Work to develop the business case will include gathering the views of people in the area on how they would prefer to access public services in future, from the district council and others such as county council.

Clare Slater, RDC’s interim chief executive, said: “The first stage is about looking at options and finding out from potential partners whether the creation of a new community hub could help them deliver their services too.

“This is a big and ambitious piece of work, with the ultimate goal of making sure that we can support the council’s services and those delivered by our key public sector and community partners, in the long run.”

The decision on the future location of the council offices will be made in February.