PLANS have been handed in to turn former council offices at the heart of Southampton into student flats.

Cash-strapped city council chiefs have agreed the sell-off of Marland House to raise funds and save maintenance costs.

Now a developer has brought forward plans to turn the nine-storey city centre building into a 100-flat student development.

As previously reported, the vacation of Marland House is part of a major project to decrease the number of council buildings, a move which has saved the taxpayer hundreds of thousands of pounds a year.

Most of the council workers – mainly in the children’s safeguarding team – have vacated the building in Civic Centre Road, it is set for a new future housing hundreds of students.

Labour civic chiefs are looking at a £30m black hole in the city’s finances for 2015/16 alone – and 200 jobs, a care home and services for the city’s most vulnerable adults are already facing the axe.

So the £211,000 they will save each year by not occupying the building will be welcome. The council has been given a substantial, seven-figure sum for the site by the developer.

Brick Projects (Reading) Ltd’s proposals have been filed with the city council, and a decision is due by October 28. If the plans are approved the ground-floor shops which form part of the building would not be affected.

Council leader Simon Letts said: “At times when the city council’s finances are really under pressure, it’s essential that we make best use of the buildings we have. So saving money on buildings means we can put more money into protecting front line services.”

The developer declined to comment.