Hundreds of jobs as plans submitted for new £118m Government hub in Darlington

A new £118m Government hub in Darlington is set to bring hundreds more civil service jobs to the region.

Cabinet Office Minister Alex Burghar visited the town on Thursday to announce the plans for the building which he said would "create further opportunities for people from across the country to work in the civil service.” An application has been submitted to Darlington Council with building work at the Brunswick Street site expected to begin later in the year.

Mr Burghar told the Local Democracy Reporting Service the location was chosen due to the opportunities in the area, transport links and close proximity to the town centre. As well as creating new jobs, he said it would also provide more opportunity for cross-Government collaboration while allowing existing workers to further build their careers.

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The four-storey hub, which will be built using stone to mirror that of the St Cuthbert's Church on the market square, is aimed at supporting the growth of the Darlington Economic Campus which was established in August 2021 and includes Feethams House and Bishopsgate House. More than 800 civil servants are currently based in the town across eight departments, including the Treasury, the Department for Education and the Department for Business and Trade with the number increasing to 2,300 with the creation of the hub.

Mr Burkhar said: "Not only will this help drive regional economic growth, but it will also ensure that we create a civil service that better represents the diverse communities it serves." Moving civil service roles out of London is part of the Government’s “levelling up” plans. In 2021, Rishi Sunak said 22,000 civil servants would move from the capital by the end of the decade.

Welcoming the news, Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen said: “Securing the Treasury and seven other Government departments in Darlington has already proven a huge success for the town with 800 workers in post, many of them recruited from Teesside and the surrounding area, cementing Darlington’s status as a centre for Government in the North. The Brunswick Street site has stood empty for decades, so to see the start of construction later on a permanent base this year will be another big step forward for Darlington Town Centre, bringing much-needed redevelopment on top of the hundreds of extra good-quality jobs this building will bring.”

Clive Anderson, director of capital projects at the Government Property Agency, said the campus is increasing investment in the area while "supporting the Government’s Levelling Up and Places for Growth agendas." An Institute for Government paper, published in June last year, said the relocation of civil service roles to Darlington, was proving beneficial to Government and had provided a "modest" boost to the local economy.

However, it also said the number of relocated roles had not been sufficient to "meaningfully reduce regional inequality". It also found, with almost 80 per cent of the civil service already based outside London, relocation "could not be a primary tool of levelling up."

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