Plans for ex-shopping centre 'to be revealed'

New plans for Nottingham's former Broadmarsh Centre will be revealed by the end of March, the city council leader has said.

The Labour-run authority reclaimed the site in 2020 after previous owner Intu went into administration.

Neghat Khan said £3m in funding pledged to demolish the rest of the former shopping centre should become available in the next two months.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service said she also told a meeting she would prioritise building family homes over student accommodation.

Construction firm Willmott Dixon finished demolishing a section of the shopping centre in 2022 before work on the Green Heart city park - which opened in September last year - began.

At a full council meeting on Monday, Khan, said the authority was "working with advisers to finalise the preferred option" for the site, which is due to be presented to its executive board in March.

"This site, as all councillors will appreciate, is of immense geographical and strategic importance to Nottingham and it is vital we get this right," she said.

During the meeting Kevin Clarke, leader of the Nottingham Independents and Independent Group, asked if Khan could "give us a commitment that permanent residential accommodation will be prioritised on the site rather than purpose-built student accommodation", which the leader was "exactly what we are asking for".

"Our ambition is to see more housing, more families, and working class people moving in there, rather than students, so that is a commitment that we make," she said.

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