The recent failure of Nottingham Castle has cost the city council at least £590,000 in terms of both lost income and fees to keep the building going. Nottingham City Council has not yet confirmed a reopening date for the Castle, which closed in November after the trust running it went into liquidation.
A reopening date was originally set to be revealed in January, but the council said at the end of last month it was "not yet in a position" to make an announcement and gave no further indication of when one would be made. Papers due to be presented at a council meeting on February 21 now show the cost incurred as a result of the Nottingham Castle Trust collapse.
In a report on the council's budget monitoring for the third quarter of the 2022/23 financial year, the council is forecasting an overspend of £13.6 million altogether. The vast bulk of this predicted overspend is down to extra costs in the council's finance and resources department, as well as for the delivery of adult social care and children's services.
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But the Nottingham Castle Trust collapse alone has cost the city council around £590,000. When Nottingham Castle reopened in 2021 after a £33 million revamp, Nottingham City Council handed over responsibility for the venue to the Trust.
Under this agreement, the Trust paid the council a concession agreement which the authority says was used to cover borrowing costs following the Castle's revamp. The council says that for the third quarter of 2022/23, it lost £293,000 in terms of lost income from this concession agreement.
On top of that, the council says it faced £300,000 of costs in the third quarter due to inheriting the "premises holding costs" of the Castle, "pending a decision on future operations." Holding costs is used to refer to the outgoings incurred by a property's owner, such as utilities and insurance.
In terms of its overall overspend on museums for the third quarter, the total figure stands at £508,000 due to better than expected income of £85,000 at Newstead Abbey and Wollaton Park. Nottinghamshire Live originally reported that the total amount lost on the Castle alone was £793,000, though the Nottingham City Council has since clarified the figures in its report.
At the time of Nottingham Castle's closure on November 21, Nottingham City Council also said it could be forced to write off debts and loans of £2.68 million. A loan totalling £1.859m was provided to the Nottingham Castle Trust to help enable its initial start up.
The council also said it had outstanding unpaid invoices for services provided to the Trust, which came to £821,000. A Nottingham Castle Transition Board is currently examining the venue's future.
The Board is an internal organisation of the council that is chaired by Councillor Pavlos Kotsonis, the portfolio holder for leisure, culture and planning. In a statement on the delayed reopening date last month, Councillor Kotsonis said: "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. As soon as we can share more news with the city, we will."
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