By Joe Locker, Local Democracy Reporter
Nottingham City Council’s new chief executive says plans to redevelop the wider Broadmarsh site are deliverable despite doubts and its financial “crisis”.
Sajeeda Rose was appointed as chief executive of the Labour-run authority, which declared itself effectively bankrupt last year, on Monday (August 5).
She has succeeded Mel Barrett, who announced he was leaving in May.
Ms Rose was born and brought up in Leicester, and still lives in the city with her children.
She studied economic history and politics at the University of Leicester and says she has “worked in the region ever since.”
Her previous roles include working for the East Midlands’ Regional Development Agency, D2N2, and most recently as the council’s corporate director for growth and city development.
One of her responsibilities had been the ongoing regeneration of the former Broadmarsh Centre, after the site was handed back to the authority upon intu’s collapse in 2020.
“I recognise that right at this moment time Broadmarsh does look like a lot of it is boarded up, but in reality, since we inherited the lease when intu went into administration during the Covid period, we’ve done a lot,” Ms Rose said.
“We’ve opened up access through Collin Street. That’s now a lovely area where it’s interactive, it is supportive in terms of working with the library with young children, and then the Green Heart is the next part of that.
“That’ll be a fantastic part of the city centre, a large, open space, a new city park, to create the basis for a future community around Broadmarsh.
“The Community Diagnostics Centre is soon to come in, and again that will re-purpose part of Lister Gate, bring thousands of people into the city, creating football, providing more interest in that area.”
Ms Rose confirmed the newly-created East Midlands Combined County Authority, headed by Labour Mayor Claire Ward, is “very interested” in the ongoing regeneration of the site.
However, the masterplan has also been criticised, most notably by former City Council leader Jon Collins, who claimed it was “undeliverable”.
Urban designer Thomas Heatherwick was behind the vision, including the reuse of the concrete and steel frame which still stands next to Middle Hill.
Mr Collins, who set up a consultancy firm after quitting as leader in 2019, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service in February: “There is not a developer I’ve talked to who thinks there is any chance anybody will invest in that concrete and steel structure.”
Ms Rose said: “So when we developed a vision for the Broadmarsh, we worked quite closely with the private sector, public sector partners and acclaimed architects and designers to develop that vision.
“But we always said that we need to test that with the market to understand whether it is deliverable which, let’s be honest, 3,000 people across Nottingham contributed towards, who said this is what we want, and that’s what the vision reflected.
“The masterplan then took that vision to say what is deliverable, and how does it need to look and feel in order for it to be deliverable from a private sector perspective? Again, this has had significant private sector involvement.
“The master plan has demonstrated that actually there are huge elements of it that will be deliverable. It will create over 1,000 new homes homes that we need in the city, create mixed spaces, it will bring life back into the city.”
Safety of the public at the Green Heart has been taken on board, Ms Rose says, including with the designs to make sure there is active CCTV with clear lines of sight through the trees.
“Our commitment is to continue to keep that under review, working closely with the police, working close with the businesses in the area, and the community groups that represent the users of the city,” she said.
Paying for the maintenance of the site, particularly the Green Heart, has been a significant factor in the masterplan, as have the use of volunteer groups to help do this, amid the ongoing budget constraints.
The authority is facing a £172m financial challenge over the next four years.
“We’re in a really difficult place,” Ms Rose said.
“The leader’s been very clear we are in crisis. We’re not in a position that is long-term sustainable, we know there’s no new money from the Government.
“The only way we as a council are going to get out of that is by looking at how we deliver what we deliver with the money that we’ve got.
“You have to think very carefully the choices you make, and we’re going to have to make those choices. I appreciate that may be difficult, because we are going to potentially stop services, change how we deliver those services, but it isn’t an option, you have to get back to being sustainable.”
