New images have been released showing exactly how a £20m grant will be spent this autumn on improvements to Bulwell town centre.
They represent the final stage of the process ahead of initial construction work starting on Monday 20 October.
Updated proposals were shared in May which, in turn, followed months of planning to capture as many suggestions as possible from a major consultation exercise carried out in 2022.
More than 500 residents, businesses and community groups took part and five key themes emerged in their feedback: increasing people’s pride in Bulwell, more high-quality green space, making it easier to get around the town centre, more cultural activities for families, and enhancing the night-time economy.
All these comments were taken into consideration as the project team put together a plan to deliver a range of improvements to make the town centre more attractive. This will include:
- Bulwell Bogs: The much-loved Bulwell Bogs area will be fully refreshed with a new planting and landscape design, including a high-quality play offer to cater for all ages. It will see renewal and expansion of the splash park and introduction of a refreshments kiosk with toilet and changing facilities to make the park a great place to visit – particularly in summer months. Lighting and CCTV will also be upgraded
- Market place: Existing market equipment will be replaced with new stalls, along with better access to electrical power on site, supporting both new and existing vendors
- Bus station public toilets: The existing bus station toilets will be rebuilt and completed modernised
- Wider public realm refurbishment: Paving will be renewed across the pedestrianised areas of the town centre along with new seating and landscaping. Connections will be improved between the Market Place and the Bogs area to bring these separate parts of the town centre together
These projects have been developed using allocated funding from a Government grant. Some budget remains and the council will work with the local community over the coming months to establish where to invest this.
Councillor Neghat Khan, Leader of Nottingham City Council and Executive Member for Strategic Regeneration, Transport and Communications, said: “We hope that the detailed images being released today will further excite the people of Bulwell about the fantastic raft of improvements coming their way over the next few months.
“I’d like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who took the time to take part in our consultation process. This was deliberately designed to be detailed and wide-ranging because we knew how important it was that the final projects going forward were what local people and businesses had asked for.
“We’re particularly excited by the revamping of the Bogs area. These are a legacy of current and former ward councillors in the town and we know just how well-loved and used they are by families in Bulwell.
“I think people are going to be thrilled when they see the new splash park take shape, along with a host of play equipment and places for children to have fun and express themselves.
“We wanted to make sure that market traders benefited from the grant money we’d secured. They’ve been engaged throughout this process and the new market will be a fantastic place to work and shop.
“There will also be significant work done to the wider public areas of Bulwell, including the market square and public toilets.
“We look forward to work starting soon. We deliberately scheduled the works for this time of the year so that the splash park could remain open during the summer for families to enjoy. The market will also operate throughout.”
Nottingham City Council successfully bid for £19.8m from the previous government’s Levelling Up Fund to revamp the area and boost economic growth. This has recently been renamed the Local Regeneration Fund.
The submission was supported by Nottingham North MP, Alex Norris; Marketing Nottingham and the Nottingham Growth Board.
Bulwell town centre is highly valued in Nottingham because of its longstanding retail offer but it was felt that major infrastructure improvements would enhance this even further.
The planned works will complement recent transport infrastructure investment through the Transforming Cities Fund.
This provided £900,000 for the redevelopment of Bulwell bus station in 2023, which included redesigning the layout – installing a new saw-tooth design – and building new passenger waiting platforms.
Nottingham City Transport has also invested £1.8m of private-sector funding into a new electric bus fleet that operates from the facility.
The council had submitted a bid in June 2022 to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC), as they were called then under the previous Government, seeking funding through the second round of the Levelling Up Fund.
Officers spoke to a significant number of local stakeholders in developing the bid, but this was initially unsuccessful. However, in November 2023, DLUHC announced that the full funding (£19.867m) would be awarded in the fund’s third round of grants.