Council propose £500,000 spend to keep County Hall running safely while its future remains uncertain

Nottinghamshire County Council is set to begin drawing up a detailed set of options for the future of its historic County Hall headquarters on Loughborough Road, as England’s system of local government faces one of its biggest shake-ups in decades.

The move comes after the former administration’s councillors agreed in July 2023 to vacate County Hall because of its high running costs – around £1.7 million a year – and the extensive investment required to modernise the ageing riverside complex. Built in the 1950s and regarded as one of the county’s most recognisable civic buildings, County Hall has stood as the centre of local government in Nottinghamshire for more than seventy years.

Since that decision, the council has completed construction of its new headquarters, Oak House, near Hucknall, which opened in spring 2025. Full Council meetings and key departments have already moved there, including the Customer Services and Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub. The plan had been to close County Hall entirely by summer 2025.

However, the situation has shifted with the Government’s decision for Nottinghamshire and other two-tier authorities to put forward proposals for local government reorganisation (LGR). The Minister of State for Local Government, Jim McMahon, wrote to councils earlier this year encouraging plans that could see county and district councils merged into new unitary authorities.

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Nottinghamshire County Council is now developing a joint proposal with its district and borough partners and Nottingham City Council.

If that proposal goes ahead, County Hall could once again have a long-term role as the headquarters for one of the new unitary councils. Because of that possibility, the authority has agreed to reopen consideration of the site’s future.

Between now and February 2026, officers will prepare an appraisal of ownership and investment options for the building and surrounding land, aiming to identify whether it can be viably retained as a modern civic base. The assessment will include the feasibility of reinstating the council chamber for meetings and the scale of work required to make the building energy-efficient and sustainable for the decades ahead.

While that work is undertaken, the council will continue to operate both Oak House and County Hall, creating short-term financial and staffing pressures. To ensure that the older site remains safe and operational, the council has authorised a £500,000 package of urgent maintenance and compliance works. These will include improvements to fire safety systems, repairs to utilities and water tanks, reinstatement of functional kitchen and toilet facilities, maintenance of car parks and grounds, and the removal of redundant cabins.

The short-term programme totals £298,500 in revenue costs and £209,000 in capital expenditure. The report also calls for the appointment of a site manager at Oak House to oversee both premises during the transition, at a cost of just under £35,000 a year.

The report presented to the Cabinet Member for Economic Development and Asset Management stresses that doing nothing is not an option. Delaying decisions or essential maintenance would, it says, risk leaving the building non-compliant and unusable.

Financially, the continued occupation of County Hall has not been budgeted for in the council’s Medium-Term Financial Strategy, which had assumed the site would close this year. The short-term costs will be met from existing revenue contingencies and capital allocations already earmarked for the council’s Building and Office Rationalisation Programme.

Nottinghamshire County Council leader Mick Barton said the council was taking a common-sense approach in light of LGR.

He said: “County Hall is an iconic building and been the home of this council since the 1950s.  With its prominent location and good transport links, we know this building is highly likely to be needed as a HQ for one of the new authorities when the time comes. It makes no sense to move out and sell this building, as we prepare for one of the biggest shake-ups in local government for a generation.

“We are taking a practical approach by preparing for the future needs of these new authorities.

“In the meanwhile, we do need to make some urgent repairs and so that County Hall can remain a functional building.”

The proposals are recommended for approval subject to further meetings and discussion.