Nottingham City Council has been given until the end of June to decide the future of Nottingham Castle. The board overseeing improvements at the authority has listed dozens of instructions which must be followed if it is to avoid any further Government intervention.
One of these instructions says the council must "determine the future of Nottingham Castle in line with the commercial strategy and without exposing the council to inappropriate risk", giving a deadline of June 30 for this to be complete. The Nottingham Castle Trust, which had been running the venue since its £33 million revamp, went into liquidation last November and the site has been closed ever since.
It was recently revealed the cost to the council in terms of lost income and bills to keep the building going had been £593,000 so far. Councillor Pavlos Kotsonis, the Portfolio Holder for Leisure, Culture and Planning, said at the start of the year that the Castle's reopening date would be announced by the end of January.
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The council then announced an indefinite delay to this process, but the statutory footing of the Improvement and Assurance (IAB) board means its latest instruction will have to be met. Issues including the misspend of £40 million and the collapse of Robin Hood Energy meant an Improvement and Assurance Board (IAB) was appointed in January 2021 to closely monitor the decision-making processes and governance of Nottingham City Council.
Although having avoided commissioners being sent in, the Government gave the IAB more powers over the council last year. The changes mean that the board has the power to direct rather than guide the council.
The latest issuing of 38 instructions forms part of that, with the matter due to be discussed at a full council meeting on March 6. Nottingham Independents leader Councillor Kevin Clarke told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS): "The portfolio holder told us at the last council meeting we'd know by the end of January when the gates were opening, we are in March [soon] and still nothing.
"We've got a date of June as to when they will decide what to do now. It is unacceptable that our main tourist attraction in this city is closed."
Tom Unterrainer, of the Open the Gates campaign group, told the LDRS: "This is our heritage, our castle, it is our land and the fact they had to close the gates, not just with little notice but no notice, really, struck a huge blow against the people of our city. We couldn’t see then and we can’t see now why these gates can’t be opened as soon as possible."
Speaking about the delay to the reopening date announcement for the Castle, Councillor Kotsonis previously said: "We are making good progress on this work but are not yet in a position to announce an opening date. We know the significance of the Castle for our city so this is a top priority and something we have a skilled and senior team working on, tackling it with pace and rigour – but it is vitally important that we get it right for Nottingham.
"We remain absolutely committed to reopening the site as soon as possible, but importantly, that the castle is reopened in a way that delivers what Nottingham people need from our internationally significant heritage asset."
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