County Hall plans will 'reduce costs for taxpayer'

The leader of Derbyshire County Council has said an £130m plan to convert the organisation's headquarters into a hotel and new homes will "reduce costs for the taxpayer in the long term".

Derbyshire Dales District Council's planning committee has been recommended to approve plans to revamp the Grade II-listed County Hall in Matlock - otherwise known as Smedley's Hydro - when it meets on Tuesday.

The proposed redevelopment would also include the restoration of the Winter Gardens.

Alan Graves, leader of Reform UK-led county council, told the BBC the building was in "desperate need of repair" and was costing the council "many millions of pounds every year to work inside it".

Graves said the next stage was to find a "development partner" to "come and do the work and invest a great deal of money into the site".

When asked about the financial viability of the scheme, he said: "We haven't made any decisions as yet. This is a planning application for the viability of a scheme that we wish to go ahead with.

"Obviously, we would be looking at the financial implications as we go along.

"If we get into a particular contract with a developer, we will see at that point whether this is going to be financially viable."

This comes after Keppie Massie, an independent surveyor and property consultancy firm, found in a district council report that the project was "unviable with a residual land value of -£13,189,293".

Graves added: "There are many organisations out there wishing to help the county council, so for instance we can get funding from the regional mayor, there are heritage grants, and lottery grants that we can apply for, and what I can say is it will reduce the costs for taxpayers in the long term."

Graves said it was a "very significant building" that needed "significant investment".

"If people think that what we should do is let it crumble, I am not one of those people."

The County Hall scheme was started in 2023, with five planning applications filed in 2025. Some were submitted before Reform UK took office that May and some very shortly after, said the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS).

A report prepared by planning officers suggests the hotel could have more than 100 bedrooms, and the existing council chamber could become a conference space.

The LDRS said buildings connected by wooden bridges across Smedley Street would be converted into 45 flats under plans set in motion by the previous Conservative administration.

It added 50 new-build houses would be constructed on the current lower staff car park, and a replacement council headquarters would be built on the current business centre site.

The LDRS said developers and private companies would be funding the schemes, but the council had budgeted in 2025 to spend £20m over three years on the overall project.

When asked whether Matlock would be the headquarters under plans for the new Northern Unitary council, where Derbyshire will be run by two councils in a reorganisation of local authorities, he said: "Not necessarily.

"However, there are a lot of council staff and employees that work from Matlock. They've been working from Matlock for many, many years. There will still need to be a base for the employees of the new authority."

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