The building of Nottinghamshire County Council offices on the Top Wighay development will go ahead after a failed attempt by a group of councillors to scrap the plan. Outline planning permission was granted in April 2021 for the Top Wighay development near Hucknall, with proposals for the village including 800 homes and a new primary school.
Nottinghamshire County Council says the new village is expected to boost the economy by £873million over 10 years. One of the key elements to the development was for new county council offices at Top Wighay.
Plans were even mooted for the county council to vacate its County Hall headquarters and relocate some services to the new Top Wighay building, though the authority has stressed no decision has been made on the future of County Hall. But during a full council meeting discussing the county council's budget on Thursday (February 9), the Independent Alliance group of councillors called for the Top Wighay offices plan not to go ahead.
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A total of £15.7m has currently been allocated for the development of the Top Wighay offices, but the Independent Alliance said no contracts have yet been signed. The group estimates the project's scrapping would lead to an "abortive cost" of £4.2m, leaving £11.5m left over which it would invest in Nottinghamshire roads.
Many Conservative councillors described the amendment as a "gimmick". But independent councillor Francis Purdue-Horan, who moved the amendment at Thursday's meeting, said: "If a gimmick invests in our broken roads and pavements, if a gimmick invests in the highways infrastructure, if a gimmick invests in our community, then I will choose this responsible, positive choice.
"Any claims that this is a gimmick or that it's not deliverable are a real insult." Councillor Ben Bradley, the leader of Nottinghamshire County Council, told Nottinghamshire Live ahead of the budget meeting: "If they're not going to spend the money on Top Wighay, they're going to have to tell us where they're going to find a couple of million pounds of savings in the revenue budget.
"That's the long-term implication, we're spending that money to save money on building maintenance and bills. If they're not going to make that revenue saving, they're going to have to find some more money from somewhere.
"It's a little bit ironic that having walked all the way from Ashfield to West Bridgford a couple of years ago to moan about how distant County Hall was from Ashfield. Now we're moving our main office right on their doorstep, they are moaning about that as well."
Members of the Ashfield Independents did a five-hour walk from Ashfield District Council to County Hall in 2018. However, this protest was specifically in response to the now abandoned idea of creating a 'super council' in Nottinghamshire which would have abolished all authorities outside the city.
The Top Wighay development will be based off Annesley Road, with the brownfield land having been purchased by the council in the 1950s and rented out for farming. Cllr Girling said last November that the reserved matters planning application which still needs to be approved by Gedling Borough Council would be submitted to that authority shortly. The Independent Alliance amendment to the budget was rejected, with 14 votes in favour and 46 votes against it.
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