A water bus or taxis taking passengers up and down the River Trent is a real possibility, and discussions have been taking place among city and county leaders for years about how it could work.
At the annual UK Real Estate, Infrastructure and Investment Forum (UKREiiF) in Leeds at the end of last month, a panel of regional leaders presented plans to unite and connect sporting venues near the river as part of the newly branded ‘Trent Sports District’.
It was during that discussion, in front of businesses and investors, that Rushcliffe Borough Council leader Neil Clarke revealed the panel was open to conversations and proposals for public transport on the water.
Cllr Clarke said:
“One of the challenges that we have is traffic, and one of the possible solutions to that is using the river,” he said. “Think big, a water bus with a park-and-ride service to take some of the traffic away.
“Nottingham is expanding generally, as is the whole conurbation. I think there could be an opportunity. So, all you multimillionaires in the audience who want an investment opportunity – there it is.”
Leeds, where the forum took place, has its own water taxi service.
Early suggestions are that, in Nottingham, the boat would run between the existing Queens Drive Park & Ride site at Clifton Bridge and the Colwick Racecourse Park & Ride site, about three and a half miles east down the river.
Both are currently in operation for people to park their cars and get on the bus, with the latter at Colwick already serving as a dock for boats, including a tourist ferry that travels along the Trent and is run by Princess River Cruises.
Before it could become a reality, years of research and planning would need to take place, including gauging whether sports fans would use it through lengthy surveys and data gathering.
Nottingham City Council leader Neghat Khan hinted that some of the “stuff that happens in the back office that people will say is boring” is already happening behind the scenes.
Referencing Leeds’ water taxi, she said: “Why can’t we have something like that? It’s not always about reinventing the wheel – it’s about learning from other places.
“Let’s get those conversations going. We don’t do it alone. It’s about partnership working with everyone and actually getting that input. I think it’s exciting.”
Rushcliffe Labour councillor Penny Gowland, who recently started a new petition demanding immediate action to tackle the long-running issue of parking in West Bridgford on City Ground match days, thinks it could.
She said: “I think it’s a good idea. I think it would be really good for the city in a broader sense to have this sort of thing happening, which is a nice and distinctive feature of Nottingham.
“We have a strange relationship with our river because we’re not really around it. So, I think it would be good.”
