North Derbyshire council says £210,000 council chamber revamp was necessary

The Labour-led council recently moved to a larger chamber at its offices on Mill Lane, Chesterfield, that has been fitted with £170,000 of helpful audio-video equipment and £40,000 worth of new furniture for its 53 councillors with more space and seating for the public and media.

During a Full Council meeting, on March 4, opposition Conservative Group Leader Alex Dale asked the Cabinet Member for Growth and Assets, Cllr Jayne Barry, to confirm the cost of the recent refurbishment of the new relocated council chamber including the new furniture and audio-visual equipment.

Cllr Barry said: “Prior to the Covid pandemic the health and safety team raised concerns regarding fire evacuation from the previous chamber.”

She added: “During council meetings the close proximity of chairs, tables and desks posed a safety risk and hindered swift evacuation.”

Cllr Barry said the furniture in the former smaller chamber posed problems for those with mobility issues and the hearing loop was unreliable and this also created problems for meetings during the pandemic’s need for social distancing and for online meetings.

Even after pandemic restrictions were lifted, a number of council colleagues tested positive for Covid after a meeting in the former council chamber, according to Cllr Barry.

She said: “The pandemic fundamentally changed the way we engaged. The distinction between physical and online engagement blurred, fostering an expectation for broader accessibility and transparency in conducting council business.

“Residents expect and should be able to view the democratic process at their own convenience.”

The previous chamber’s poor technology and old equipment was not functioning effectively and malfunctioned and there were complaints about poor sound quality, according to Cllr Barry.

She said the previous Conservative-led council had already been considering a new chamber and Cllr Dale had actually presented plans for the relocation and it was later agreed the chamber would be relocated to address health and safety issues.

Cllr Dale told Cllr Barry: “I supported the move to this room. The difference between our administration and yours is whether we would spend £210,000 on TV screens and cameras and new furniture.

“And I would ask whether the cabinet member feels that when we are facing rising council tax bills – lots of residents are still suffering – whether most residents would support that sort of expenditure?”

Cllr Barry explained the money used for the council chamber was taken from the Asset Management Budget for Refurbishment of Buildings with the Capital Management Programme for buildings which means it was not necessarily drawn from council tax or likely to affect council tax rates.

She also said that the district council had not paid much more than Derbyshire County Council’s chamber revamp with new technology which cost about £173,000.

The new district council chamber is located in a larger room, has plenty of well-spaced seating and room, very good acoustics with microphones and speakers for councillors, and a system that records votes.

Its new large video screen shows which councillors are speaking and highlights full voting details and decisions, and it allows for visual presentations, and video recordings of meetings available on YouTube.

However, Conservative Cllr Charlotte Cupit stated in a Facebook post: “Shockingly, it was confirmed the new furniture and equipment for the council chamber cost over £200,000.

“Whilst clearly supportive of making council meetings as accessible as possible, the cost of this is really disappointing and begs the question of many better uses of these funds.”

Cllr Barry said the district council had not paid much more than Conservative-led Derbyshire County Council for their chamber revamp with new technology which she claimed cost about £173,000.

She added: “The residents deserve to be able to see and view the meetings going forward. It’s only democratic we do that and I think by doing what we have done and by increasing the accessibility for everybody that fulfils it and I think that is a good way of spending money.”

Following the meeting, Cllr Dale argued the expenditure on the council chamber was an ‘insult’ to ‘hardworking residents’ and he felt the money could have been spent on other things to benefit residents whom he feels are being taken for granted.

He said: “Labour-run NE Derbyshire District Council have spent the past year bemoaning Government funding and the council’s financial situation while increasing council tax by the maximum possible amount and yet yesterday (March 4) we learnt that they’d chosen to spend £210,000 on technology and furniture for the council chamber.

“Clearly we all want council meetings to be accessible and transparent for the public, but at a time when so many of our residents are still struggling with the cost of living, we have to question whether it’s right for the council to spend so much money on this sort of thing.

“These proposals for new furniture and audio-visual equipment were put forward to us by officers when we were running the council in 2022, but the big difference between the Conservatives and Labour is that we refused to spend nearly a quarter of million pounds on something which mainly benefits councillors themselves, whereas it was one of the first things Labour committed to do when they came to power in May, 2023.”