Nottinghamshire taxpayers won’t foot estimated £2.4m bill resulting from County Hall fire

Taxpayers will foot none of the estimated £2.4m costs resulting from a fire at County Hall in July with Nottinghamshire County Council claiming on its insurance.

The fire, on July 28, caused an evacuation of the West Bridgford building and was caused by an electrical fault in a ceiling void.

It started above the office used by Councillor Neil Clarke (Con), portfolio holder for transport and environment, before spreading to various other offices in the ruling Conservative Group's first-floor corridor.

Cllr Clarke confirmed he lost personal and work belongings during the incident, while other councillors also suffered damages in their offices as a result of the blaze.

Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service, which managed the incident with a dozen fire appliances, later confirmed the fire was accidental.

Staff were told not to work at the building for the first few weeks after the incident, with council workers asked to either work from home or in alternative council buildings.

A phased return for reoccupying the building then took place between mid-August and early September, with all parts of County Hall except the Conservatives' corridor now operating as normal.

Now it can be revealed exactly how much the damage will cost to repair, including how much the authority has claimed through insurers.

Figures seen by the Local Democracy Reporting Service and confirmed by the council show an estimated £2.4m could be required to fix the damage and replace lost equipment.

This would be claimed through the authority's insurers, who are estimating this will be broken down by £1.75m in buildings insurance, £500,000 in contents insurance and a further £150,000 in business interruption insurance.

However, the council has confirmed Nottinghamshire taxpayers will be footing none of the bill.

Speaking in the full council meeting on Thursday (September 22), Councillor Ben Bradley MP (Con), the authority's leader, said: "The council is fully insured and the costs will be recoverable through our insurance, not via the taxpayer.

"The only cost to the council is through officers' [lost] time."

He also praised the work to get the building up and running following the blaze, which came in more than four weeks ahead of schedule.

"An average of 70 people had been on-site seven days a week, including bank holidays, to ensure we've been able to get back into this building as quickly as possible," he said.

"The full reoccupation was originally programmed to be in 12 weeks but has, in fact, been done in less than eight.

"The evacuation caused minimal disruption to service delivery and staff were able to relocate into surrounding buildings."