Nottingham City Council's leader has said it would be "appropriate" for the Victoria Centre to keep running the Shopmobility service there after the authority said it would no longer be able to. The council first revealed a raft of measures last December to plug a financial gap of around £30million in the next financial year, starting in April.
One of these plans was to close the Shopmobility service at the Victoria Centre, which is currently run by Nottingham City Council. The service, which currently operates for three days a week, loans out mobility scooters and wheelchairs to registered members free of charge for several hours.
In documents presented at a meeting of the council's executive board on Tuesday (February 21), Nottingham City Council said a change of policy from the Victoria Centre is what led to the Shopmobility closure plan. The council said: "The Shopmobility demise is owned by Victoria Shopping Centre and has historically been provided to the council with no chargeable rent or other servicing costs.
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"However, taking account of the challenging economic climate, the shopping centre management have sought to introduce rent and service charges as part of a new leasing arrangement that they are looking to formalise by March 2023. The operational costs of this service could double as a result."
The Shopmobility service is currently located in the White Car Park at the Victoria Centre. But despite the council's claim, the Victoria Centre said the authority did not enter into further negotiations about the future of Shopmobility.
A spokesperson for the shopping centre said: "In 2021, we started discussions with Nottingham City Council regarding their ongoing use of the unit in our car park. The council did not enter into further negotiations with us beyond that point." Nottingham City Council has not addressed the claim that it did not enter into further negotiations about Shopmobility.
But the authority has now said the Shopmobility service is one which "primarily benefits" Victoria Centre customers and that it "doesn't demonstrate best value to local taxpayers". Councillor David Mellen, the leader of the Labour-led authority, said: "A combination of factors has led to the proposal to end our provision of the Shopmobility service as we once again aim to set a balanced budget in difficult circumstances.
"Operating hours of the service were reduced during the pandemic from five down to three days a week and since then, the number of users has remained low while costs increase. As part of putting this proposal forward we have consulted with users and the Disability Involvement Group.
"We have also been speaking to organisations who might be in a position to run the service, but unfortunately if nobody steps forward, we are no longer in a position to operate a service that doesn't demonstrate best value to local taxpayers. We believe it would be appropriate for the operators of the Victoria Centre to run the Shopmobility service which primarily benefits their customers."
But the Victoria Centre spokesperson added: "Shopmobility is a service fully operated by Nottingham City Council and any decision about its future will be made by them. We remain committed to ensuring our centre is accessible to everyone."
Other plans to plug the council's financial gap, approved at Tuesday's executive board meeting, included a council tax rise of 4.99%. All budget plans will now have to be approved by a full council meeting on March 6 before they come into effect.
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