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Plan to demolish former Nottingham education facility moves a step closer

By Latifa Yedroudj, Junior Local Democracy Reporter

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A former education facility in Nottingham could be demolished if plans are approved by the council.

An application was lodged for Thorneywood Education Base, on the Wells Road, St Ann’s, in May this year.

The plans have taken a step forward after Nottingham City Council validated the application on Wednesday, June 18.

Once approved, demolitions works are expected to start on Monday, June 23 and be fully completed by July 11.

The former Thorneywood Education Base building in St Ann’s shut down in 2019 after one of its key services moved to Sherwood.

It has since remained vacant and left unused.

The Hospital and Home Education Learning Centre offered education for children and young people with health need.

It was previously based in Thorneywood before relocating to Sherwood.

Nottingham City Council declared the Thorneywood Education Centre building as “surplus to operational requirements” in 2022.

This happens when a council decides a building is no longer needed for operations or services. 

The authority approved this decision on 5 September 2022 and it became effective 10 days later.

This decision was made due to the “high costs” of running the building and it was considered “no longer financially viable”, documents say.

Documents following the council’s decision in 2022 read: “Following the relocation of Nottingham City’s Hospital Home Education Learning Centre’s education services to Sherwood Children’s Centre in February 2019, the building has since been vacant and surplus to operational requirements.

“Further options were considered including rental of the building to alternative providers and services.

“The decision not to hold the building in reserve for possible future educational purposes was made due to the high costs of reinstating services.

“It is no longer financially viable to hold on to a building where there are no direct educational requirements to do so.

“There is no budget attached to the site and holding charges are being covered.”

The building was no longer being used by Education Services but cost the council £15,000 a year to keep it secure, reports show.

Documents read: “This decision seeks to declare the former Thorneywood Education Centre building surplus to requirements.

“The site is not in current use by education services, but does incur annual costs of approximately £15,000 in maintaining the security of the site.

“The designation of surplus to requirements would stop this ongoing cost being incurred in Education Services.

“It should be noted that working closely with property services, and any future disposal should ensure that value for money is achieved and any costs are mitigated in the disposal as best as possible.”