Plans to sell off entire Herts County Hall site paused after challenge from Conservatives

The county council has been seeking a tenant or buyer to take over newer office buildings on the Hertford site for employment use for some time, whilst committing to retain the Grade II* listed building that includes the council chamber.

But last month, the council’s Liberal Democrat administration agreed that the entire Hertford site – including the Grade II* listed part of the building – should now be marketed for “alternative uses”.

And they approved the creation of a new council chamber and committee room on the council’s Stevenage campus.

However, those plans have now been put on hold after formal concerns were raised by Conservative county councillors.

The Conservative councillors have formally ‘called in’ the controversial decision. And that means it will be subject to further scrutiny by councillors.

In ‘calling-in’ the decision, the Conservative councillors say that it is Hertford that has been the civic centre of Hertfordshire “for a thousand years”.

And they say the existing council chamber at County Hall “is the place with the gravitas needed to serve as the location for civic, ceremonial and administrative meetings”.

They also point to the “uncertain” future of local government, given the government’s plans for local government reorganisation and reform.

And highlighting the plans for a council chamber in Stevenage, they question the £1m cost of refurbishing “a substandard setting elsewhere for temporary use” when there is already a council chamber in Hertford.

It has been suggested that if the council were to retain the Grade II* listed building, there would be a cost in excess of £9.5m to separate it from the remainder of County Hall.

But in the ‘call-in’, councillors say no consideration has been given to the council chamber being retained and refurbished as part of a developer agreement.

The ‘call-in’ will be considered by a meeting of the county council’s overview and scrutiny committee next week (July 9).

At that meeting, the committee could decide it has no objection to the initial decision or could refer the decision back to the cabinet for reconsideration.

It could refer the decision to a meeting of the full council – but only if it determined the decision was in breach of the council’s policy framework or budget framework.

A large part of the Pegs Lane site – comprising the newer office buildings – has been marketed for “employment use” since 2023, when the vast majority of council staff moved to offices in Stevenage.

But since then, there is reported to have been “limited market interest” from companies looking to rent or buy the available office space on the site.

At the cabinet meeting where the decision to market the entire County Hall site was taken, executive members pointed to a lack of interest in the ’employment’ site – as well as the £9.7m cost of separating the listed part of the building, if it were to be retained by the county council.

They also pointed to the current practice of staff having to travel between Stevenage and Hertford to attend meetings and to the unsuitability of the council chamber, particularly in periods of extreme heat and extreme cold.

Commenting on the call-in, a spokesperson for Hertfordshire County Council said: “The cabinet decision to market the County Hall site for alternative uses has been called in for scrutiny, following a request made by a group of county councillors.

“The decision will now be considered by the cross-party overview and scrutiny committee within the next 10 working days. The committee can decide to let the cabinet decision stand, refer the decision back to cabinet for reconsideration.

“The decision cannot be implemented until this process has been resolved.”

• The meeting of the overview and scrutiny committee to consider the ‘call-in’ has been scheduled for Wednesday 9 June, at 8.30am, and can be viewed at www.hertfordshire.gov.uk