Cost of living and energy planning ‘on its way now’ as Nottinghamshire Council urged to act

However, the Conservative-led council has been accused by opposition leaders of not acting quickly enough to address the issue locally.#

New Prime Minister Liz Truss has outlined her plan designed to help households and businesses across the UK with the rising costs of energy bills, including a £2,500 cap on average energy bills.

Nottinghamshire Council is facing uncertainty of its own regarding internal gas and electricity bills, which are expected to rise significantly in the coming months.

Coun Boyd Elliott, council overview committee chairman, said preparation work is ‘on the way now’ as departments begin to budget for further inflation rises.

Coun Richard Jackson, portfolio holder for finance, said negotiations and assessments are being held about how much extra the council may have to pay in energy costs.

He told the overview committee: “We haven’t got a figure on it because the market is volatile, it’s constantly under review and, at the moment, it’s proving to be greater than expected.”

Their comments came as Labour accused the ruling Conservatives of not acting quickly enough on its own planning, instead prioritising ‘property before people’.

The meeting saw a work programme for items to be discussed in scrutiny meetings over the next few months, with no items revealing wider planning for a council response to the crisis.

However, the work programme did include an ongoing review into the authority’s property portfolio, a move the council has long planned as it looks to sell off redundant buildings and save millions of pounds each year.

Coun Kate Foale, leader of the Labour Group, said: “It feels like you’re putting property before people.

“I want to see a proper discussion in this chamber about what our priorities are.

“Nobody cares about our property portfolio, about Top Wighay, they want to know whether or not they are going to get through this winter without getting into huge debt.”

In response, Coun Elliott said the property review ‘needed to be done’ and will be a quicker process, but is not being prioritised by the authority.