NO one is to be blamed for the disastrous office move for South Bucks District Council which could run in to millions of pounds.

The council commissioned a report by Deloitte and Touche to look into the costly move from its offices in Windsor Road, Slough, to the Capswood business park in Denham.

The admission was made at a council committee meeting last Monday.

Cllr Lionel Rigby (Ind, Stoke Poges) said: "We set out to build a civic centre for our own district.

"Then when it became difficult to find a site, Capswood became the temporary move.

"What we finished up with was that we would be unable to lease out Capswood because we have overpaid as far as the rent level is concerned."

The district council had to stump up more than £300,000 of taxpayers' money after it lost a legal battle with the owners of Capswood business park.

The auditors accused senior council staff of agreeing to the move to the new Capswood office site without first agreeing to the sale of offices in Windsor Road.

Investigators also claimed that "political risk took precedence over market risk" and that council officers failed to analyse market conditions properly.

Cllr Graham Smith (Con, Beaconsfield) said: "They say if you think education is expensive try ignorance. Well we have had a very expensive education."

Despite the controversy surrounding the move, officers and councillors connected with it were interviewed privately by the consultants and no names have been mentioned in the report.

While some councillors were happy to be named in the report others were not.

Rodney Mountford (Con, Iver) chairman of the committee that commissioned the report, said: "The interviews were totally voluntary and were in order to help the process of the investigation.

"We had to be very careful in the report about naming names without incurring legislation.

"We all had to be very careful about pointing fingers."

He added: "The hope is we will not be in that position again. We will have procedures and policies to make sure we do not make these simple mistakes again."