Nottinghamshire taxpayers will not foot estimated £2.4m bill resulting from County Hall fire

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 Coun Neil Clarke, portfolio holder for transport and environment, before spreading to various other offices in the ruling Conservative Group’s first-floor corridor.

Coun 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 & 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.

The council has now revealed it will cost an estimated £2.4 million to fix the damage and replace lost equipment, funded by £1.75m in buildings insurance, £500,000 in contents insurance and a further £150,000 in business interruption insurance.

Coun Ben Bradley, council leader, member for Mansfield North and Mansfield MP, told the latest full council meeting: “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’ 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.

He said: “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.

“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.”