'Once-in-a-generation' conversion of historic Derbyshire council headquarters into a hotel, homes and office building approved

At a Derbyshire Dales District Council meeting on Tuesday night (September 8), £132 million plans from Derbyshire County Council to turn its HQ at County Hall in Matlock into a 100-room hotel were approved.

Alongside this approval were further permissions for 50 homes to be built on the current staff car park, a replacement five-storey council office building to be built in the grounds and for now “mothballed” buildings on the opposite side of Smedley Street to be turned into 45 flats – with one accompanying wooden bridge to be demolished and one to be retained.

The overall plan was formulated by the previous Conservative administration, with plans filed during the tail end of their term in early 2025 and others submitted shortly after Reform UK took control.

Councillor Stephen Reed, Reform’s deputy county council leader, said the party had come into office wanting to stop the plans entirely, citing “genuine concerns”.

He said the administration had challenged the overall plan and says it has since changed “considerably” with the main building to remain in council ownership to ensure it would not be left to go derelict and “secure its legacy”.

Cllr Reed said the administration was “still looking” at the overall plan, but said proceeding with the planning applications was the best thing to do, to keep options open, and that the eventual scheme would be workshopped in partnership with a master developer, to be hired by the council.

Under the Conservatives, £4.24 million was set aside to hire consultants and a master developer to carry out the scheme, with the funding for the £132 million to come from private investment.

Independent assessors Keppie Massie detail in the district council report that the entire project was “unviable”, with a residual land value of minus £13.19 million, even with no affordable homes and after readjusting for under and overestimations from the council.

On the night, an agent representing the county council said the scheme represented a “viable and deliverable future” for the building, but said there were “significant viability challenges” currently precluding any affordable housing, which could be reviewed at a later date.

Applications to the National Lottery and East Midlands Combined County Authority would be made to help develop the scheme, he said, saying the county council was committed to developing the scheme, “despite viability issues”.

Cllr Reed said: “We had concerns from the beginning, we have challenged it and changed it and we need to ensure we get the best value for money and the best outcome for Derbyshire and the residents of Matlock and the best value for the Derbyshire and Matlock economy.”

He said further changes may be needed in future, referencing the council’s own highways department saying the scheme did not have enough parking spaces to cater for all the different uses, or the hotel in isolation.

A total of 110 spaces are to be retained out of the current 597, with the overall change in vehicle movements between the current uses and proposed combined changes would be 723 extra trips per day – 2,048 up from 1,324.

The county council’s highways department urged for a restriction to just 300 employees and to have no full council meetings between 9am-5pm on weekdays – with current meetings usually from 2pm on Wednesdays.

Colin Sinclair, representing the county council, said: “We are here to secure the long-term future of these Grade II-listed buildings through the sensitive restoration, public access and the creation of sustainable new uses which are capable of funding the ongoing and future maintenance and stewardship of these important heritage assets.

“This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to secure the future of one of Derbyshire’s most important heritage assets and to create a sustainable and unique destination for Matlock. “

He said the scheme would take five-to-six years to complete, create 800 temporary construction jobs and “benefit the county for decades to come”.

Councillor Sue Burfoot, a county and district councillor, raised concerns at the lack of parking and said this could cause significant issues for residents on surrounding roads.

However, she said: “This is really exciting for Matlock and I hope I am around to see it all happen.”

Chris Dale, district council development manager, said the housing parts of the project would help “subsidise” the “not profitable” hotel conversion.

He confirmed that, as a whole, the scheme was not financially able to provide affordable housing and wholly relied on outside funding to go ahead.

Councillor David Hughes said care was needed to avoid the site forming an “incongruous mass” and wanted the new office height reduced to four storeys.

He and other councillors also pushed for parking on site to be increased to a two-storey facility at a later date, though this would require a further planning application.

Meanwhile, Councillor Gareth Gee said it was important a council presence stayed in Matlock to continue 70 years in the town, but said local government reorganisation – which would split Derbyshire’s 10 councils into two but has now been paused – had thrown this into disarray.

However, he said: “This is a positive move for the future of Matlock, and let’s hope that Matlock is the centre of whatever council comes to us in the future.”

Councillor Peter Slack said he was not “happy or satisfied” at the lack of affordable housing and said its absence would “dilute” the scheme.

Councillor David Burton said the hotel conversion would “bring a lot of pleasure to visitors” and would be “tremendous”.

The county council itself has asked that the authority pay £865,329 to itself to provide further spaces at Highfields secondary school to offset the newbuilds and flat conversions, along with £3,523 for library supplies, with a further £50,000 to the NHS and £43,000 specifically to Chesterfield Royal Hospital.

The planned hotel conversion is expected to create 100 full-time jobs, boost the Derbyshire economy by £145 million and the Matlock economy by £66 million, along with £1.2 million a year in extra council tax – with some of these figures now changing from those previously disclosed.

It previously said it had received interest from Radisson Hotels, Vine Hotels and Lock Terrace for the hotel part of the redevelopment, along with interest from “one of the UK’s largest events management and hospitality businesses”.

Retained use of the current council chamber in County Hall would be key to the future of the plans, officials have said, with no replacement to be built in the planned new office, but this would be redeveloped and not kept in its historic condition, district council officials said.

The council had said the cost of maintenance (£57 million), a repairs backlog (£56 million) and the price of decarbonising County Hall (£59 million) totalled £172 million.

Previous council papers detailed the new HQ building and hotel conversion could be complete by 2029, but a start today would now see the overall scheme finished by 2032.

All five planning applications relating to County Hall were approved by councillors, with all but one unanimous.