Nottinghamshire County Council’s Labour group says it still plans to sell or lease out the authority’s brand-new headquarters if it gains control of the authority in May.
The council met at County Hall in West Bridgford on 27 February to discuss its budget for 2025/26, in the final full council meeting before the authority moves into Oak House – its new building at Top Wighay, near Hucknall.
The Labour Group at the authority submitted a series of amendments to the Conservative authority’s finance plans, including a sale of Oak House – saying the money would be used to fund key services.
The group says this would include £1.2 million for flood defences, £900,000 for foster carers, and £1.5 million for a dedicated pavements repair fund.
The Labour group says the new council building has cost taxpayers £23 million.
However, the proposed changes were struck down in the chamber yesterday, with 11 councillors voting for and 49 against.
Conservative leaders say selling the new building and staying at County Hall is too costly because the ageing building requires millions of pounds to be spent on updating and maintaining it.
Labour Group Leader Councillor Kate Foale said:
“[Oak House] is dumped in the middle of a field with no transport links – how can that be good? We need it to be accessible to the public.
“I think we can make [County Hall] pay, as a multi-use-type building with good transport links.
“We could rent some of it, have some apartments, it could become Nottinghamshire’s South Bank – it could be lovely. Okay, it’s a bit ambitious, but I want us to be ambitious.”
Cllr Foale said that the Labour group’s plan, if it wins a majority in May’s local elections, still includes selling Oak House and continuing democratic services at County Hall.
She said:
“We will look in the first instance at selling Oak House. However, we are open to exploring other workable options, such as leasing some or all of [Oak House].
“It is important that we be more creative about how we use the civic centre at County Hall, both as a democratic hub and for the benefit of the public, for whom it was originally built. We are focused on sustainable, long-term planning, rather than flogging yet another asset for short-term gain.”
Responding to the proposal to sell Oak House, Council Leader Sam Smith (Con) said:
“What they [Labour] don’t tell residents is that if they flog [Oak House] off, the people who are going to work from there will have to work somewhere – and County Hall is not fit to do so.”
The Conservatives say it will cost around £50 million of taxpayers’ money to make County Hall fit for purpose.
He added:
“Where are they going to get that money from?
“[Oak House] saves half a million on adult social care and children’s care services in rented accommodation each year, starting this year.
“Moving services that are more required in the north of the county into the north of the county – that’s what Oak House does.”
Councillor Richard Jackson (Con), Cabinet Member for Finance, said:
“County Hall is a big, old, and very expensive property. Moving to Oak House saves us at least £5 million a year in running costs, on top of the millions we’d spend bringing County Hall up to spec.”
Cllr Jackson added that the authority has travel plans in place to ensure staff can get to Oak House.
