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Here is the Nottinghamian from Thursday, February 2.
Hello,
Today's edition of the Nottinghamian brings news of Nottingham City Council avoiding Government commissioners being sent in to run the authority.
We will also take a look at one Nottinghamshire chippy claiming to serve the biggest portion of fish and chips in the UK. Plus how Nottingham City Council is preparing to sell the historic Guildhall.
'Still much to do'
The Government has said there is "still much to do" for Nottingham City Council to improve - after the authority avoided taxpayer-funded commissioners being sent in to run it. Issues including the misspend of £40million 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.
The IAB has been sending quarterly reports to the Government on the council's progress, which the Government then uses to determine whether it needs to send commissioners in to run it. In its most recent update, the Government has confirmed it won't be taking this step for now but says the IAB will remain in place and that commissioners could still be appointed in future.
Nottingham City Council leader, Councillor David Mellen, reacted to the Government's announcement by saying: "We very much welcome the Government’s decision which reflects that the current arrangements in place are working. The council has already made many of the improvements expected of us by the IAB and the Government.
"In particular, we had agreed a balanced budget and medium-term financial plan prior to the soaring inflation and energy costs that have affected the finances of households and councils up and down the country – and we are well on the way to balancing the budget for a second year. We recognise there is much more work to do to increase the pace of the changes and to put the council on a solid financial footing despite the huge budget pressures we and all councils are facing currently." Read more here.
Future
Talks are taking place on the future of Nottingham's former Debenhams building as the city council says it wants to bring it "back to life" nearly two years on from the department store's closure. A new investment management company has recently taken on the building on behalf of Long Row Properties Limited, a company based in Jersey which has owned the site since 2017.
The company, Longmead Capital, has confirmed that it has approached Nottingham City Council to discuss future proposals for the former Debenhams building. The confirmation that talks are taking place comes amid growing calls for progress on the historic building, but Longmead Capital has warned that drawing up plans for the future will be a "lengthy process".
A spokesperson for Longmead Capital said: "The discussions are at an early stage but given the scale and sensitive nature of the site the process is likely to be lengthy, however the owners and council are keen for the process to involve public consultation once initial thoughts have been developed." Read more here.
Weather and trivia
Weather: Cloudy at first with outbreaks of drizzle clearing by lunchtime to give some drier weather, with occasional clear spells by Friday evening. Strong winds easing. Maximum temperature 12 °C.
UV: Low
Further reading: Police statement as students locked in Nottingham College after stabbing
Trivia question: In which year did the Peak District become the UK's first national park?
The answer to today's trivia question is at the bottom of the newsletter.
Biggest chippy tea
Nottinghamshire's Chip Inn is famed for its supersize portions but this time it's really outdone itself. The Codfather is the most epic yet - in fact it's the biggest portion of fish and chips in the UK, according to the owners of the Huthwaite takeaway. The chippy tea consists of four battered cod, eight sausages, four fish cakes, three portions of chips and ten pots of mushy peas, baked beans, curry and gravy.
Costing £40, the whopping meal weigh around 1st 4lbs. It is served in a 20in pizza box, so full that it has to be wrapped in Sellotape to stop it bursting open. There's a humungous 4,500 calories of fried food - and that doesn't include the sauces. The chip shop, in Sutton Road, attracts customers from across the country and has even had visitors from Florida, who were visiting London, but took a detour to north Notts after seeing the chippy online.
Megann Altinoz, 42, who owns the shop with husband Erdal, 45, said: "It easily feeds four or five adults with some left over or maybe a big family with quite a few children. If you bought it all separately you would pay a lot more, maybe getting on for £60 so even though it does seem quite an expensive box you are getting quite a bargain. We just come up with different things now and again and think we'll give that a try. We share it on Facebook and if someone picks up on it and likes it, it gets shared."
'Essential' removal
Nottingham City Council will spend £140,000 to remove asbestos from the historic Guildhall in an "essential" step towards its sale and transformation into a hotel. The authority decided to approve the funding of the second phase of asbestos removal at the former district heating plant areas situated below the Guildhall and Trinity House, Burton Street, Nottingham.
Phase one of these works has been completed, with a report noting the removal was considered to be essential in enabling the sale of the Guildhall site. Plans for the site to become a hotel were given the go-ahead in August 2020, with a fine-dining rooftop restaurant and spa among the facilities that will be developed there.
Last September, the council said that although the hotel plans were agreed in principle, they are still subject to a Section 106 agreement which will not be agreed until the Guildhall sale is completed. The decision report warned that any problems with the sale would "materially affect the council’s capital programme/debt repayment". The money expected from the sale of the building is said to be significant. Read more here.
That's all for today
Thank you for joining me for today's edition of The Nottinghamian. I hope you enjoyed it, and if you did why not sign up to receive it directly in your inbox every weekday by clicking here.
The answer to today's trivia question, in which year did The Peak District become the UK's first national park, is 1951.
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