First meeting held at 'unfinished' council base

The council says Oak House will save money in running costs

The first full meeting has been held at Nottinghamshire County Council's new headquarters, despite claims the building is "unfinished".

The Conservative-run authority has relocated to Oak House, near Hucknall, after deciding its historic base at County Hall in West Bridgford was too expensive to maintain.

Council leader Sam Smith acknowledged the new facility is still under construction but said it was "absolutely completely safe" to host a meeting.

Opposition councillors, however, said it was "clearly not ready" and the meeting was only held as "a political stunt".

Independent councillors wore hi-vis and hard hats to make their point

Ashfield Independents leader Jason Zadrozny said: "It's not safe for people to be here. It's costing extra money to have safety briefings and to ship bottled water in.

"This is just a show by the Conservative administration."

The council's online calendar shows smaller meetings scheduled for the coming weeks will be held back at County Hall, which will also host the declaration of results for the upcoming local elections.

Labour group leader Kate Foale called Oak House a "vanity project" and said the council should consider selling the building.

"Conservative councillors have rushed the builders to make half of Oak House semi-usable, so they can experience one meeting here before the elections in May," she said.

Smith, however, denied he had insisted Oak House was used just to make a statement.

He said: "The building as of right now is available and functional, and it's operational for the council meeting to take place. Why would we not do it if it's available?"

Councillors disagreed over whether Oak House is fit for purpose

The building does not yet have a water supply which is safe to drink, but Smith said it would be in place before staff moved in permanently.

Services such as the multi-agency safeguarding hub and the council's customer service centre are set to relocate to Oak House in late May.

The council said both were currently based in a leased office in Annesley which costs £278,000 a year.

An oak tree sapling was "temporarily" planted near the entrance to Oak House to mark its opening, but will later be moved to "a permanent place which will be visible to residents and passers-by".

It is not yet known what will happen to County Hall in the long-term.

The council's chairman and leader "temporarily" planted an oak sapling

During the meeting itself on Thursday, councillors discussed the county council's approach to ongoing plans to reorganise local government.

Conservative councillors formally endorsed the "county-only" option, which would see smaller district and borough councils scrapped but the current boundary with Nottingham city remaining in place.

It was also the final full council meeting for former leader Ben Bradley, who has announced he will not be standing for re-election in May.