£3.5 million loan approved for deteriorating ‘safety risk’ depot buildings across Nottinghamshire
Nottinghamshire County Council had agreed to give a £3.5 million loan to its highway maintenance company to fix worn depot buildings that are in a “critical condition”.
The loan was approved in the authority’s cabinet meeting on September 10, to help bolster the £4.68 million needed to demolish and replace “life-expired” depots at three locations in the county.
It will be given to VIA, the council-owned company in charge of managing the county’s roads since 2016. VIA’s contract runs until 2031.
The depots are dotted across the county, with Blyth Depot in the north in Bassetlaw serving the A1 and A614 routes, Stephenson Way in the east in Newark serving the A1, A46 and A17 routes, and Gamston Depot in Rushcliffe serving the A52 and A6011 routes.
The report read by the cabinet said buildings on the site are “past the end of life” and are in a “critical” state, with some already closed or facing “imminent closure”. The deteriorated conditions of the buildings poses a “growing risk” to staff safety and welfare according to the authority.
Coun James Walker-Gurley (Ref), cabinet member for economic development and asset management, said in the meeting: “Unfortunately aside from limited maintenance, the council has made no significant investment in its depot facilities since 2012 when the number of depots county-wide was consolidated around the central Bilsthorpe Depot.”
Coun Walker-Gurley added: “Further investment is needed to establish a new depot in West Nottinghamshire following Ashfield District Council’s request for VIA to vacate the shared depot in Sutton.”
Opposition councillor Neil Clarke (Con) noted the lack of timescale in which the loan would be repaid by VIA and asked: “Three quarters of the cost being loaned to VIA and the other quarter being paid by the council, it makes me wonder will that loan actually affect any of the other services that are being supplied by VIA – is there any impacts on service delivery at all?”
The improvements to Gamston Depot mean the site could be developed to cater to extra council services, such as public transport operations and “potentially support a nearby household waste site” in Rushcliffe.
Responding to this, Coun Clarke said: “The household recycling centre is mentioned, the potential site, and that was very much part of the thinking in the previous [Conservative] administration and I’m anxious to bring that forward.
“It makes me think this would be far better and more efficient… by amalgamating this together and developing this household waste site in conjunction with the refurbishments of the [Gamston] depot because of course that will use the same plants and equipment.”
Coun Walker-Gurley said he was “happy to discuss” these questions with Coun Clarke outside of the meeting.
With the project’s total cost, £1.2 million would be funded initially from VIA, with the remaining £3.5 million funded by a loan from the county council, which VIA would have to repay over future years.
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