Taxpayers could be landed with a £42,000 annual maintenance bill as part of plans by council chiefs to buy a Weston-super-Mare nightclub.

North Somerset Council's executive agreed earlier this month to spend nearly £1 million on buying the Sands Nightclub at Beach Road so it can use the site for council offices.

The council decided to move ahead with the deal to buy the night spot, owned by brothers Cam and Kiem Mu, as part of a project to regenerate Dolphin Square.

Although the £930,000 cost of purchasing the club will be covered by a government Growth Point grant, the ongoing costs to maintain the seafront building will cost the council an estimated £3,500 a month – £42,000 a year.

The money will be spent on insuring, securing and maintaining the building while plans for the overall regeneration project are put together.

No firm timescale has yet been put in place for the Dolphin Square project, meaning the council will be liable for the maintenance costs of the building until a decision is taken on what to do with it.

The authority has launched a Europe-wide search for a development partner for the project and work is not expected to start for at least a couple of years. North Somerset Council executive member for finance, Councillor Tony Lake, said: "It is the case that in the short-term the council will have to meet the costs of insuring, maintaining and paying the business rates on the building.

"In the short-term, if we have to use our capital reserves to fund the costs, I don't see that as being a problem.

"We took the opportunity to purchase the site rather than go through the compulsory purchase process and secured the building at a point when the market is fairly low."

Mr Lake said there were a number of options open to the council to limit its maintenance costs for the building.

He said: "One of the options is for us to demolish the building as obviously we would not then have any maintenance costs or have to pay business rates for a flattened site. It is also possible that we can rent out the building in the short-term to offset any costs.

"However, we would not want to enter into a long-term let of the property as this could restrict the development of the site."

He added: "I am confident that we will not be spending £42,000 a year, every year and I don't think it would be acceptable for us to do so."

The fact that the council may have landed itself with an expensive maintenance bill for the building comes at the same time as it is slashing thousands from its budgets to balance its books and keep council tax increases to just 2.5 per cent.

The authority is also reducing the subsidy it pays to run Weston-super-Mare's Playhouse Theatre, wants to close Portishead's Open Air Pool and is planning to reduce the amount of money spent on library books next year by £100,000.

Some councillors questioned whether it was right to spend such a large amount of money when other services were being cut.

But Councillor Nan Kirsen, who represents Pill, said: "The council is planning to spend a million on a new office while all the time we are being told that we are short of money.

"Local people are going to think they are being lied to.

"I thought the council was here to provide services to local people, not buy buildings."

Councillor Tim Marter, who represents Banwell and Winscombe, said: "I am concerned that once we have bought it, it is going to cost around £3,500 a month just to keep it there."

The Post revealed in December that the club was up for sale.

The Sands was criticised last year after an increase in violent incidents and for allowing people under 18 into the venue.

A hearing was called to review the club's licence and the brothers were ordered to shut for six weeks for retraining.

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