Council set to unveil ‘exciting’ plans for streets around Broad Marsh

Plans to bring neglected streets around the derelict shell of the former Broadmarsh shopping centre in Nottingham have been passed by the city council.

Councillors have opted to remove restrictions to allow trading to take place in a move that would allow pop-up businesses to set up shop on a number of streets including Sussex Street near the new Nottingham College building, Collin Street opposite the new Central Library and Listergate near the soon-to-be-developed Green Heart space, with a view to potentially staying in the area long-term.

This decision will be open to consultation before returning to the committee. If approved, the new designation could be implemented in December.

This approach, says the council, would give early adopters the opportunity to experiment with their offer and test how it might be incorporated into the site in the longer-term.

The council says it could involve independent traders, food and drink outlets, entertainment including seasonal events and opportunities for local producers, suppliers and artists to showcase themselves. It follows a soft market testing exercise carried out by the council which will help stablish what is needed to make the sites commercially viable.

City Council leader, councillor David Mellen, said: “We’ve made fantastic progress on our plans to completely change the look and feel of this part of the city. Streets that were once filled with traffic are now pleasant places to be, students are enjoying the new college, and the new bus station and car park are up and running in a modern building where the new central library will open later this year.

“Work on the Green Heart and Collin Street improvements will also get underway this year – but we know that it will be some years before the vision for the whole site will be fully realised. We believe there is a very exciting opportunity to use parts of the site in the short and medium term for a variety of activities, as part of the first phase of the ongoing transformation of the area. We’d like to hear people’s views on this and hope that if there is general agreement, we can move this forward before the end of the year.”