Who has bought Nottingham's Broad Marsh and what will they be doing with it?
An agreement being signed for the purchase of the Broad Marsh site after five years of uncertainty has been hailed as a "major milestone" for Nottingham. The operator of the Broadmarsh Shopping Centre collapsed in 2020 and Nottingham City Council first took control of the site in July of that year.
Work has been progressing at a snail's pace ever since on redeveloping the shopping centre. Work in the wider area has included the opening of the new Central Library, the pedestrianisation of Collin Street and the opening of the Green Heart park.
Yet half of the former shopping centre still stands derelict, hardly a sight to entice visitors heading into the city from the train station. The Broad Marsh development, despite its huge potential, was the subject of several failed bids to the Levelling Up Fund under the previous government.
READ MORE: Thousands of University of Nottingham staff at risk of redundancy but bosses told it 'has other options'
READ MORE: Suspect arrested at Heathrow Airport after incident at Nottingham university campus
The announcement in December that the East Midlands Mayor was providing more than £3 million for the demolition of the remaining shopping centre was the first bit of positive news for years. Much more significantly, the city council then confirmed a "public sector" buyer was being lined up and it was announced on March 31 that Homes England were taking it on. But who are Homes England and what exactly will they be doing with the site?
Homes England is a non-departmental public body, meaning it is funded to deliver a government service but does not sit within a ministerial department. The body acts as the government's housing and regeneration agency and came into being in 2018, though its history stretches back much further.
The organisation's roots go back to 1964, when the Housing Corporation was founded to fund affordable housing and regulate housing associations - not-for-profit social landlords. The organisation was eventually dissolved with a view to setting up a new body that had a greater focus on the broader mission of regeneration, alongside housing.
Homes England is governed by a board of 12 members appointed by the Housing Secretary. The organisation's current chief executive is Eamonn Boylan.
Homes England publishes statistics every six months on its work and between April and September 2024, programmes it delivered saw over 14,000 new homes completed. Work also started on over 15,000 new affordable homes.
Under the affordable homes programme, Homes England has £8 billion of government funding to deliver at least 100,000 affordable homes outside London by the end of March 2026. As part of its broader regeneration ambition, Homes England recently announced a £250 million joint venture with Oaktree Capital Management and Greycoat Real Estate to "unlock and accelerate" huge development sites across England.
The partnership targets large or complex sites with the potential to deliver more than 1,000 homes each. The partnership acquires sites to masterplan and develop before infrastructure work is carried out so that a development site is ready to offer to housebuilders. Given this remit and the fact that the partnership was launched in December 2024, it is likely that the Broad Marsh site was acquired through this partnership.
The i Paper reported throughout 2024 on anger among Homes England staff about alleged failure's to manage spending. The paper revealed that nearly £400,000 was spent by Homes England on an internal staff meeting, with the paper quoting insiders who described the agency as a "dysfunctional" and "sick" organisation.
The investigations reportedly angered former chief executive Peter Denton. Homes England announced in late 2024 that chief executive Peter Denton and chair Peter Freeman would both be stepping down from their roles. Mr Denton has already stepped aside for Eamonn Boylan, whilst Mr Freeman's successor will be appointed later in the year.
Homes England's purchase includes all land to the west of the Green Heart, NCP's Maid Marian Way Car Park, Severns House and the former college site on Maid Marian Way. The NCP car park and Maid Marian Way college will both be demolished as part of the plans.
Homes England says it will now "de-risk" the site by first focusing on demolition work, with city council leader Neghat Khan having said that this work could start imminently. Councillor Khan previously said: "We've got confidence that once they sign, it's all go, go, go."
Teams from Homes England will also be working to attract developers to then deliver the homes, employment spaces and leisure facilities envisioned for the future of the Broad Marsh. The development is expected to create around 1,000 homes, up to 20,000 square metres of retail, office and community spaces and around 2,000 full-time jobs.
Nottingham City Council expects overall construction work on the wider development to begin in 2029. Before then, separate work on a major Nottingham University Hospitals Trust centre will get underway soon ahead of a 2026 opening.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
5 hours ago
- Yahoo
Sadiq Khan said to be furious over lack of spending review cash for London
Sadiq Khan is understood to be furious at the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, over a lack of funding for London in the forthcoming spending review, with sources close to the mayor suggesting the capital will get none of its key transport requests. The mayor is also understood to share the concerns of senior Met police officers that London will not get a substantial uplift in funding. The Met police commissioner, Sir Mark Rowley, has already written to the chancellor warning about the effects on tackling crime if there is no serious increase in policing budgets. A city hall source said it would 'unacceptable if there are no major infrastructure projects for London announced in the spending review and the Met doesn't get the funding it needs'. Khan is also understood to have asked for powers to introduce a tourist levy in London, which has been rebuffed – though such changes would be likely to take effect at a budget rather than spending review. The mayor – who has rarely criticised the Labour government – had asked for two key transport investments – an extension of the Docklands Light Railway to Thamesmead, and to complete the extension of the Bakerloo line. Transport for London's day-to-day costs are met by fares. 'Over the past nine years as mayor, Sadiq has fought to deliver for London – in the best interests of Londoners and the whole country,' a source close to the mayor said. 'We know that when London does well it means the whole country does well, and that it will simply not be possible to achieve national growth ambitions without the right investment and growth in our capital. 'We must not return to the damaging, anti-London approach of the last government, which would not only harm London's vital public services, but jobs and growth across the country.' On Monday evening it emerged there were also concerns that some English regions, including London, would lose money to support local economic growth and tackle poverty through schemes such as the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, Growth Hub funding and the Levelling Up Fund. A source close to the London mayor said: 'If the Treasury go ahead with this cut it would be incredibly shortsighted. They say they want economic growth but their actions in failing to invest in new infrastructure in the capital and cutting local growth funds will actually damage our economy, not improve it. 'They say they want regional mayors to be the drivers of growth but then remove their levers to achieve growth.' A Treasury source declined to comment on the specifics, but said the government had granted London huge benefits, including support for the third runway at Heathrow – which Khan opposed – and expansion of Gatwick, Luton and City airports. They said the government had expanded late licensing and given approval to pedestrianise Oxford Street, as well as allocating money so HS2 would run to London Euston. They said city hall, which provides free school meals for all pupils in London, would also have cash freed up by the Treasury's new commitment to fund free school meals for children with parents on universal credit Khan will make the case that investment in London has growth benefits across the UK. 'We need backing for London as a global city that's pro-business, safe and well-connected,' a source close to the mayor said. 'It's absolutely crucial at this time of global uncertainty that we send the right message to attract investment, which helps to bring prosperity to the whole of the UK. 'It's also important to recognise that parts of London still have some of the highest levels of poverty anywhere in the UK. Sadiq will always stand up for London and has been crystal clear that the way to level up other regions is not to level down London.' Last week, Reeves announced £15bn more to be spent on transport infrastructure outside London and the south-east, part of what was seen as rebalancing of government priorities where London had mostly benefited from infrastructure spending. Research released on Monday from IPPR North found that if the north of England had received the same per person spending as the capital, it would have received £140bn more – enough to build seven Elizabeth lines. Over the decade to 2022-23, each year London received £1,183 per person, while the north of England got £486 per person. The analysis shows that the Midlands fared even worse, receiving just £455 per person. The East Midlands received the lowest investment of every nation and region of the UK at just £355 per person.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
Sizewell C power station to be built as part of UK's £14bn nuclear investment
The biggest nuclear programme in a generation will 'get Britain off the fossil fuel rollercoaster', the energy secretary, Ed Miliband, has said, announcing £14.2bn to build a new nuclear power station and a drive to build small modular reactors. The multibillion-pound investment at Sizewell C on the Suffolk coast, which has been long expected, will create 10,000 jobs and power the equivalent of 6m homes. Nuclear will be one of the key investments Rachel Reeves will champion at Wednesday's spending review, which the chancellor hopes will overshadow uncomfortable decisions for the government including the U-turn on the winter fuel payment and a major row over police funding. Miliband said the 'golden age' of nuclear investment was critical to the government's net zero goals, which will probably require a significant increase in electricity demand, and said that it would not detract from investments in renewables. 'I'm doing this because of my belief that climate change is the biggest long-term threat facing us,' Miliband said. 'The truth is that we have this massive challenge to get off fossil fuels. That is the central driving ambition of the government's clean energy superpower mission. We know that we're going to have to see electricity demand at least double, by 2050. 'All of the expert advice says nuclear has a really important role to play in the energy system. In any sensible reckoning, this is essential to get to our clean power and net zero ambitions.' The announcement comes as part of the £113bn of new capital investment Reeves will announce in the spending review that the Treasury hopes will be the key theme – and enough to stave off further disquiet over expected cuts to day-to-day spending. On Monday, it emerged that all departments had settled with the Treasury after a deal was done with the home secretary, Yvette Cooper, who was deeply dissatisfied with funding for policing. The Home Office could still be forced to cut the overall number of police officers in the aftermath of its lengthy spending review negotiations with the Treasury. Whitehall sources said the department had been asked to look at all options including reducing officer recruitment, which would mean an overall cut in the headcount. On Monday morning, Cooper was the last minister still to reach a deal, with reports suggesting greater police spending would mean a squeeze on other areas of her department's budget. On Monday afternoon, a source said that cuts to police numbers remained 'a possibility'. The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has also privately complained to the Treasury about Met police funding and a failure to finance any of the capital's key transport infrastructure requests. On Monday evening it emerged there were concerns that some English regions, including London, would lose money to support local economic growth and tackle poverty through schemes such as the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, Growth Hub funding and the Levelling Up Fund. A source close to the London mayor said: 'If the Treasury go ahead with this cut it would be incredibly shortsighted. They say they want economic growth but their actions in failing to invest in new infrastructure in the capital and cutting local growth funds will actually damage our economy, not improve it. 'They say they want regional mayors to be the drivers of growth but then remove their levers to achieve growth.' Earlier on Monday, Reeves formally announced plans to restore the winter fuel payment to all pensioners with an annual income of £35,000 or less, after a furious backlash to the government's most unpopular policy to date. While the reversal was welcomed by Labour MPs worried about pensioner poverty and the political toxicity of the issue, there were concerns the £1.25bn price tag would mean more tax rises or spending cuts this autumn. The green light for the development at Sizewell C marks the end of a long 15-year journey to secure investment for the plant since the site was first earmarked for new nuclear development in 2010. Campaigners argued the development of the site would be hugely expensive compared with investment in other energy sources and would create only short-term job opportunities. The government announced Rolls Royce as the winners of a long-running competition on Tuesday for a bid to build one of Europe's first small modular reactor (SMR) programmes – a model that some in government hope could eventually attract private investment, especially from tech companies, which might build SMRs to power datacentres. The FTSE 100 manufacturer Rolls-Royce was the long-running favourite to be chosen to build the first British SMRs. Reeves will confirm the nuclear investment in her address at the GMB congress on Tuesday, including £6bn of investment to the nuclear submarine industrial base to deliver on recommendations in the strategic defence review. The investment also includes £2.5bn over five years for research and development of fusion energy. Combined, the Treasury said they would be vital to the UK's energy security, replacing the UK's dependency on fossil fuel markets with homegrown power. 'We need new nuclear to deliver a golden age of clean energy abundance, because that is the only way to protect family finances, take back control of our energy, and tackle the climate crisis,' Miliband said. He said projects such as these were also essential for making the economic case to voters that the transition to net zero would not come at a cost to their families. 'There aren't enough industries in this country that provide good jobs at decent wages with strong trade unions. Nuclear is one of them. This is absolutely about delivering the kind of economic change right across the country,' he said. He said investment in fusion in Nottinghamshire would be directly on the site of the old West Burton coal-fired power station. 'That is the transition in action – from an old coal-fired power station to a new fusion prototype plant,' he said. So for climate, for energy security, for jobs, I genuinely think this is the right choice.' Miliband has argued for nuclear power to be a part of tackling the climate crisis since 2009. As energy secretary in the last Labour government, he said he was brought up in a family that opposed it, but he now saw it as vital. 'I didn't expect to have to become the energy secretary again to make it happen,' Miliband said. 'We've been too slow, definitely. This is also about accepting the role of government because this is going to be majority state-owned and state invested. 'Hinkley was done under a different model. That is a way of lowering the cost of capital, getting a return for the taxpayer. So I think there have been real missed opportunities in the last 14 years.' Sizewell C was one of eight sites identified in 2009 by Miliband as a potential site for new nuclear. The project was not fully funded in the 14 years that followed under subsequent governments. The Treasury said that combined with the ambition to build SMRs, it would deliver more new nuclear to the grid than over the previous half century by the 2030s. Campaigners opposed to Sizewell C said they believed the development would end up as 'HS2 mark 2' with years of overspending and delay. Alison Downes of Stop Sizewell C said: 'Ministers have still not come clean about Sizewell C's cost and, given negotiations with private investors are incomplete, they have signed away all leverage and will be forced to offer generous deals that undermine value for money.'
Yahoo
18-05-2025
- Yahoo
Bypass plan for potential new town dropped
A government agency which had proposed to build two bypasses to take a planned new town's traffic is now only planning one. Homes England wants to build 3,400 homes at Chalgrove Airfield, Oxfordshire, and previously proposed building two bypasses, one through Cuxham and another through Stadhampton and Chiselhampton. It still plans to build the latter but has dropped the proposal for Cuxham and wants to use traffic calming measures and a bike path there instead. Many residents are opposed to the homes plan, as are South Oxfordshire District Council (SODC) and Chalgrove Parish Council, which said the plan would be "unsustainable due to its isolated location". There are about 1,200 homes in Chalgrove currently and community events were held for residents about the project in April 2024. The airfield has been used for decades by ejector seat maker Martin-Baker, which has a lease on the site until 2063. The firm has said it will not move willingly. Homes England pulled an earlier plan in 2021 and concerns about the development and the proximity to the airfield's runway were previously raised by the Civil Aviation Authority and residents. In documents shared by SODC, Homes England had previously planned to submit three planning applications for the development. They would have included homes at the airfield and for its northern runway and two others for the bypasses. Four are now planned. They would include an outline planning application for the airfield's main site, another for a realigned northern runway, one for the Stadhampton and Chiselhampton bypass and another for the Cuxham travel route. Other proposals for traffic calming along the B480 and A329 within Stadhampton and Chiselhampton and the B480 through Cuxham are proposed but how "is yet to be determined", SODC said. You can follow BBC Oxfordshire on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram. Spending on new market town plan nears £14m Shapps denies lobbying against houses on airfields Plan for new market town on airfield filed Airfield objections derail housing plan South Oxfordshire District Council Homes England
