FORMER council offices at the centre of a stalled multi-million pound sale should be kept in use to boost council coffers and prevent the building from falling into disrepair.

The GMB union wants to see King’s House in Hove kept in use while the protracted process to sell the 100,000 sqft seafront offices to a housing developer is completed.

Talks with a preferred bidder fell through earlier this month and Brighton and Hove City Council is being forced to put the prime site back on the market in April.

With the council almost three years into the process, GMB branch secretary Mark Turner said it should look to make money from the grade II listed former hotel for what could be a lengthy sale.

He said: “I think they will have to find an alternative use for it otherwise all the money on keeping the property secure just goes into a black hole.

“They should think about using it themselves or get some other organisation in.

“If you don’t keep using it, if you don’t keep up the maintenance, then it won’t be long before it starts to look run down.”

The council has spent £24,000 on security and maintenance since the building was vacated in October.

The £514,000 savings in running costs was budgeted for the second half of 2016-17 but the council does not anticipate the delay affecting capital investment plans, services or staff.

Mr Turner warned the clock was ticking for the council to ensure the project to sell the eight-storey property continued to make economic sense.

He said: “It’s a pretty big knock-back for the council finances. It could have a devastating effect because it was meant to pay for [the renovation of] Hove Town Hall.

“It was meant to save hundreds of thousands of pounds but that was on the basis that they would no longer have their liability at King’s House.

“The hope was that as staff walked out they would sell it but it never happened like that and so the concern is how will that impact on staff and services if they’re not meeting those savings.

“Having had talks fail with two bidders, it does weaken the council’s position for the next negotiation.”

A council spokeswoman said King’s House would need to be protected to ensure it attracts the best possible offers.

She said: “Any other use of the building would carry a number of risks that could affect value, timing and potentially jeopardise a sale.

“For these reasons it’s not appropriate to consider an alternative temporary use.

“At this stage there is no immediate financial impact on the council as the site is a high value, attractive proposition, and there is a high level of confidence a developer will come forward given the level of interest in the first round of marketing and recent interest.”