Independent Alliance at Nottinghamshire Council says Top Wighay office should be scrapped to create £20.5m roads cash

The Independent Alliance opposition group will propose an alternative budget on Thursday, February 9, when the authority meets to approve financial papers for the next three years.

The group has met with finance bosses over the past month to pull together the plans and its documents have been signed off as “legal and balanced”.

The plans include scrapping the new £15.7m offices in favour of pumping cash into road repairs, but the ruling Conservatives dismissed the plans as “gimmick proposals”.

The Independent Alliance group says about £11.5m would be saved by dropping the new building, due to be built at Top Wighay Farm near Linby and Hucknall, but £4.2m would be lost to “abortive costs”.

The savings would be moved into immediate highway works for 2023/24, to tackle an issue some councillors have said is the most frequent complaint from members of the public.

This would be coupled with a further £9m for roads already allocated across the following three financial years, which would be brought forward into 2023/24.

The group says the £20.5m total allocation for roads would then be split by each district and borough to deliver £2.928m of repairs in each area next year.

Other proposals include reductions in the communications and marketing team and scrapping all unfilled vacant job postings to save £670,000, which would be moved into the highways team to create staff for extra road maintenance.

The group is proposing keeping councillors’ divisional funds for community projects in their area at £5,000, rather than the Conservatives’ planned reduction to £3,000.

Scrapping the £2,000 reduction would cost £132,000, with this cash found through contingency cash and an increased number of homes paying council tax.

The proposed 4.84 per cent council tax increase put forward by the Conservatives would still be enforced under the Independents’ plans.

Coun Francis Purdue-Horan, who will propose the plans, said: “It’s a legal budget and will be paid for by scrapping an office block we don’t need and bringing forward spending.

“Ask anybody what they think about the state of our roads and pavements and they’ll tell you they’re diabolical.

“This budget amendment shows we’re listening and acting on residents’ concerns.”

Commenting on the Independents’ budget plans, Coun Richard Jackson, cabinet member for finance, said it is full of “impractical gimmick proposals”.

He also described funnelling all money into highway spending as a “tired old gimmick” by the Independents which would “jeopardise the funding available” for major infrastructure projects.

On the Top Wighay proposal, he said the new building will be energy-efficient and environmentally friendly, saving taxpayers £1.35m a year.

“Not so long ago, Ashfield Independents were complaining Nottinghamshire Council was too remote from Ashfield and even walked to County Hall to make their point,” he said.

“Yet now, they oppose our plans to build an important new council office on their doorstep.”

“This alternative budget is just another small bundle of gestures and soundbites designed to get their picture in the papers.

“The budget proposed by the Conservatives is designed to provide sustainable, good-quality services for the next three years and beyond.”

The Labour Group has confirmed it will not be putting forward alternative budget documents.