A Nottingham MP says it is "dreadful" the Government has again delayed a decision on whether it will provide £20 million towards redeveloping the Broad Marsh. Nottingham City Council submitted a levelling-up fund bid totalling £57 million in the summer, with other projects including a regeneration of Bulwell's town centre.
The levelling-up fund is intended to help communities across the UK and Nottingham City Council missed out on its original £20 million Broad Marsh bid in the fund's first round last year. A decision on its second attempt was initially due in October, but this had to be put back after the deadline to apply was extended.
Rishi Sunak then promised decisions would be announced by the end of this year when he took over as Prime Minister. But a spokesperson for Nottingham City Council says the authority has been told the decision has been delayed again.
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The Government has confirmed it will now release a decision by the end of January. Alex Norris, the Labour MP for Nottingham North, said: "We've put in a really good bid to improve Bulwell, to really lift the town centre and to support businesses, so the Government needs to make good on its promise that areas needing investment will get it.
"We're calling on the Government to back that bid and any delay is just dreadful because inflation has spiralled and that will put pressure on the bids, so we just need to know the answer now." At the time of submitting its bid, Nottingham City Council said the £20 million Bulwell element would see improvements to the market place, the restoration of heritage buildings and the creation of a new Bulwell Promenade.
Alongside a £17 million bid for Nottingham's Island Quarter, the rest of the bid centred on the Broad Marsh. The £20 million project in the area includes a 'Green Heart', providing a rich green space in the city centre.
The city council recently announced more details on the Green Heart element of the Broad Marsh work and Councillor Adele Williams, Nottingham City Council's deputy leader, said that work would continue whilst the authority awaited the Government's decision. She said: "It is disappointing that we won't get that decision and I hope that we are successful in getting further funding for Broad Marsh, but we will nonetheless press ahead with the development of the Green Heart.
"We had great engagement with people in the city on this and we know what they want is something really different for the city. I'm looking forward to seeing that and I'm hoping we'll be successful in terms of funding, but it is regrettable that we haven't heard yet.
"We've seen sustained progress in regenerating that party of the city. We've got the library, bus station and car park built and you can see those improvements going right up to the edge of the Lace Market, so we are seeing progress continue and we will look forward to hearing the levelling up fund decision."
The redevelopment of the 20-acre Broad Marsh site is one of the most significant city centre projects in the UK. Following the collapse of intu, the owners of the former shopping centre, work began on deciding the future of the site.
One of the key visions is to retain the frame of the former shopping centre and to use it as a space to "bring people together in the city for play, performance and food." On the delay to the funding decision, a government spokesperson said: "The Levelling Up Fund puts money directly into the hands of local leaders to invest in projects which matter most to local people and we will be announcing the outcome of round two by the end of January.
"With so many high-quality applications, we want to take the time to carefully consider the bids to allocate additional funds, meaning up to £2.1 billion will be granted to successful bids in this round. We appreciate the work that bidders have put into the applications and we thank them for their patience."
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