Nottinghamshire County Council to review whether its getting ‘best value’ from County Hall headquarters

Nottinghamshire County Council will look at whether it is getting the "best value" out of its County Hall headquarters following a move to hybrid working.

A scrutiny review is expected to take place into the large West Bridgford building, which is home to numerous services and the council chamber, as well as the nearby Trent Bridge House.

It will assess whether the buildings are being utilised in the "best way" following the shift to more council staff working from home, with the Conservative-led council looking to review options for the two sites.

Opposition councillors have previously raised concerns over the plans, and have suggested the authority could be planning to relocate the home of some services to the new £15m office building at Top Wighay Farm, which is on the Hucknall and Linby border.

But this has been played down by leading Conservative councillors, with figures released by the authority in May confirming almost half-a-million pounds has been spent improving elements of County Hall since 2020.

This includes £235,985 in improvements to the basement for new data systems, £212,813 in flue and chimney works, £20,000 in improvements to the water system and smart meeting technology spending of £3,750. The council said at the time these costs exclude general building maintenance spending.

Councillor Keith Girling (Con), cabinet member for asset management, has now confirmed the council will review its future usage of County Hall and Trent Bridge House.

The announcement came in the newly-created Place Select Committee on Wednesday (July 6), with councillors setting the terms of reference for areas to scrutinise over the coming months.

In the meeting, Cllr Girling added the review to the work programme and said: "One of the things I promised to do when I took on the role was to review all of our buildings and assets within the county.

"Obviously, we're sat in [County Hall], quite a significant asset here and a significant building, and when you look around I'm not sure it's being utilised the best way it could be.

"I'd really like to put on the list of scrutiny to look at how we utilise this building and also Trent Bridge House.

"Because the hybrid way of working has changed things around, are we getting the best value of this building or not? And if not, what would we like to do?"

The issue is due to be raised as a question to Cllr Girling at Thursday's full council meeting, with Cllr Francis Purdue-Horan (Ind) to ask: "Has the council held any discussions about selling any part of County Hall?"

Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, the Bingham West councillor said he believes the review shows this could become a reality.

"This was the worst kept secret in County Hall," he said.

"Everyone knows County Hall is prime real estate and we feel the real reason they are building the new £15.7million new office block at Top Wighay Farm is that they are considering selling County Hall to the highest bidder."