County Hall could be needed by council after move

Plans to reorganise local councils have prompted a rethink over the future of a historic civic building, a council leader has said.

Nottinghamshire County Council is due to move out of County Hall in West Bridgford next month and relocate to new offices near Hucknall.

The authority has not yet said what will become of the 1950s building after it leaves, and a business case with potential options is currently being drawn up, but it has been suggested it could be converted into homes, restaurant and bars.

County council leader Sam Smith said ongoing discussions over local government reorganisation had "thrown everything in the air" and could lead to County Hall being needed for council meetings in the future.

Smith said the move to the new headquarters - called Oak House - would still go ahead, but the building may turn out to be too small.

It comes after the government announced in December it wanted to merge areas where there are currently two tiers of local authority, such as Nottinghamshire.

It has not yet been decided what the future arrangement will be, but one option would see all district and borough councils and the county council scrapped and replaced with a "unitary authority".

In this scenario - which Smith supports - the number of councillors on the newly-established authority would likely be double what the council chamber at Oak House is equipped for.

"They need to work from somewhere, they need to have meetings somewhere, and they need to crack on with delivering for residents," he said.

"Is that possible at Oak House? I do not know."

He added while it was possible Oak House could be expanded, it was also possible County Hall could be required once again.

It is likely, however, the council chamber at the latter would also not be big enough, and so would need expanding.

Two concrete annexes that were added to County Hall in the 1970s, meanwhile, are due to be demolished in the coming months.

A council report published in December said the Riverside Building and Data Centre were "no longer viable" and their retention would be "inappropriate" in any future scenario for the main building.

Smith added Oak House was "always going to be built", initially to house services such as the "multi-agency safeguarding hub" for vulnerable children and adults.

He said the decision to relocate the authority's civic and democratic base to the new facility was only taken at a later date after it deemed County Hall was too expensive to maintain.

The first full council meeting to be held at Oak House is scheduled for 20 March.

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