Call for council to move back to County Hall

LABOUR GROUP SAYS NEW £19M HEADQUARTERS IS AN 'UNSUITABLE REPLACEMENT'

- By OLIVER PRIDMORE

REFORM UK is being urged to ditch Nottinghamshire County Council's new £19 million HQ after taking control of the authority.

The small group of Labour councillors left at the council say Oak House in Hucknall is a “costly and unsuitable replacement” for the historic County Hall.

The group will present a motion at Reform's first full council meeting in charge on Thursday, May 22 and if a majority of councillors back it, the authority will have to explore how County Hall can remain Nottinghamshire County Council’s main base. Oak House was originally designed to solely house frontline council services, but as the cost of maintaining County Hall increased, the previous Conservative council decided to make Oak House their new headquarters as well.

With an original budget of £11 million, the Conservatives say the final build cost was £19 million. The Tories said at the time that staying in County Hall would have cost £50 million over the coming years given the upgrades required.