Nottinghamshire Council to stay at historic base, Reform confirms
The new building - called Oak House - was originally built to house services such as the Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub, which had been based in rented offices.The Conservatives later decided to also use it as the council's headquarters after a review found County Hall required "significant ongoing maintenance".The council said in 2023 that the building would need more than £30m in essential repairs over 12 years and a further £28m of investment to bring it up to modern environmental standards.Conservative group leader and former council leader Sam Smith said Reform would now have to explain where it would find the money to renovate County Hall."What libraries are they closing, what roads and pavements aren't they repairing, what recycling centres are they closing, what youth centres are being shut, what schools aren't going to be built?" he said.Earlier this month, Labour called for the council to move back to County Hall and suggested Oak House be sold.
According to the council's online calendar, all meetings currently scheduled for June are due to be held at County Hall, along with all but two meetings in July.A full council meeting on 10 July and a cabinet meeting on 17 July are both due to be held at Oak House.Asked why those two meetings would not be held at County Hall, Barton said: "We can utilise both buildings."We've got lots of buildings throughout Nottinghamshire, so we could have it somewhere else if we wanted to."It has previously been suggested the two buildings could be used as the headquarters of separate newly-established authorities.
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The Independent
6 minutes ago
- The Independent
Epping asylum hotel numbers rose from 28 to 199 in three months
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The Independent
6 minutes ago
- The Independent
What the UK's migration numbers really show
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Labour has also made progress on cutting the backlog of asylum claims and speeding up the number of deportations, with enforced returns up by 25 per cent and an increasing number of criminals deported in the year to June. Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said on Thursday that the numbers showed Labour had 'strengthened Britain's visa and immigration controls, cut asylum costs, and sharply increased enforcement and returns'. The bad news: asylum claims and small boats at record levels The number of migrants being housed temporarily in hotels has risen by eight per cent to 32,059 in the year to June. This was up from 29,585 at the same point last year, when the Conservatives were in power, but down from 32,345 in March, and has been falling since last December. That figure is still far below the peak of 56,000 asylum seekers living in hotels in September 2023. 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Daily Mail
6 minutes ago
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