Broadmarsh car park set for demolition

Nottingham city councillors are set to approve plans to demolish the Broadmarsh car park to make way for a new development.

The City Council’s Executive Board, meeting next Thursday (June 1), will be told that demolishing and rebuilding the current car park is a better – and in the long-term cheaper – option than refurbishing it.

By knocking it down and starting again, the Council says it can create a new development with shops and cafes in keeping with intu’s redevelopment of the shopping centre, while also creating modern car park and bus station facilities. It would also remove the need for ongoing remedial works and reduces future maintenance costs.

As part of the Council’s wider investment in the Broadmarsh area, streets around the car park will have traffic removed to create a much-improved, pedestrian-friendly entrance to the city centre from Nottingham Station.

If approved, the preparation for demolition can start and the work to demolish the car park would take around six months to complete. Such a significant development in a key central location would have an impact on traffic but the Council says it would take action to keep traffic moving. Plans would also be put in place for car park and bus station users. Construction of the new car park could begin early next year and be complete by the end of 2019.

City Council leader councillor Jon Collins said: “There can be few people in the city that would be sorry to see the Broadmarsh car park go. There is a strong financial argument in favour of demolishing it and starting from scratch, so that we can develop a brand new facility and significantly reduce our maintenance bill.

“This would allow us to provide new retail outlets in a much more pedestrian-friendly setting, as well as the kind of modern car park and bus station facilities that people expect when visiting a city like Nottingham, in a development which will complement the new-look shopping centre.”