A £5.4 million plan for Ryedale District Council to move to a new office on Wentworth Street car park in Malton is in doubt.

Councillors have instead expressed a preference to remain on its Ryedale House site in Old Malton.

However, it’s not currently clear whether that will mean refurbishing the building itself, reconfiguring it, or even building new houses on part of the site.

The discussions took place at a meeting of full council at Ryedale House on Thursday.

The council had previously agreed in principle to move away from the large, 1970s structure of Ryedale House, which has high maintenance costs and has seen underinvestment in its upkeep.

But following recent analysis which put the cost of moving at about double the initial projections of £2.5m, councillors voted to undertake a financial analysis of creating a public service hub - with the preference of developing the current Ryedale House site.

Cllr Luke Ives said that the Wentworth Street idea would fail the initial objectives the council had in planning a move, in that it would give them less space and a lower rental income.

“So the question is; what’s the point?” he said, although he added that Ryedale House, as it stands, is “not fit for purpose”.

Cllr William Oxley, who

suggested the preference for staying put, said: “I believe the writing is already on the wall

in terms of where this is going,” and added it would be a waste

of officer time to explore

moving to Wentworth Street.

But Cllr Linda Cowling, who is in favour of the Wentworth Street move, said that more information was required before a decision can be made and added: “The issue of what we are doing with this site and what we are doing with Wentworth Street are tied together.”

Cllr Lindsay Burr wanted to go further than just expressing a preference to redevelop the Ryedale House site, and tabled an amendment committing to renovating and staying in Ryedale House itself, citing reasons of cost, location and also of continuity for staff. “Let’s make a commitment to this building,” she said.

This idea found some support among other councillors. Cllr John Clark said: “Let’s look at triple glazing, ground-source heat pumps, and solar panels. Let’s get this building sorted out.”

But Cllr Burr’s amendment was defeated by 18 votes to 10.

Cllr Luke Ives said it was time to ‘reset’ the path they were on: “I think it’s sometimes helpful to take a step back.

“What we need is a financial statement to show us the way forward.”