Nottingham City Council has been given a deadline of June to determine the future of Nottingham Castle.
The Nottingham Castle Trust announced it had gone into liquidation on November 21, and the site was closed and handed back to the council.
It has remained closed since and a reopening date has yet to be announced.
The council had promised an update on its opening by the end of January but has since said it is now not in a position to name a date.
The Labour-run authority remains under the close watch of a Government-appointed improvement board, which has the power to both advise and direct the council towards financial and operational stability.
The board, chaired by Sir Tony Redmond, has now listed dozens of instructions that the council must follow to avoid further intervention.
One instruction, published in council papers this week, says the authority must “determine the future of Nottingham Castle in line with the commercial strategy and without exposing the council to inappropriate risk”.
The given deadline is June 30 this year.
It comes after council documents revealed the authority had spent £593,000 on the site since its closure.
These costs come in the form of utility bills, insurance and lost income due to a concession agreement with the trust.
Cllr Kevin Clarke (Nottm Ind), said: “The portfolio holder told us at the last council meeting we’d know by the end of January when the gates were opening, we are in March [soon] and still nothing.
“We’ve got a date of June as to when they will decide what to do now. It is unacceptable that our main tourist attraction in this city is closed.”
Tom Unterrainer, of the Open the Gates campaign group, said he was “alarmed”, adding: “After all this is our heritage, our castle, it is our land and the fact they had to close the gates, not just with little notice but no notice, really, struck a huge blow against the people of our city.
“We couldn’t see then and we can’t see now why these gates can’t be opened as soon as possible.”
The council does not expect a return on loans associated with the Castle, which total £2.68m.
The wider list of instructions for the council has been broken down into sections, from companies and governance to finance and workforce culture.
Some of the most pressing instructions include the “complete the financing of the £17m misappropriation of funds relating to the HRA (Housing Revenue Account)”, which must be achieved by March 31, and the approval of a variety of financial and recovery plans, which must be achieved by the same date.
Some deadlines extend as far as March 2024, including the finalising of strategic plans for the council’s own companies.
There are 38 instructions in total.
Previously speaking of the castle’s closure, Portfolio Holder for Leisure, Culture and Planning, Cllr Pavlos Kotsonis, said:
“We are making good progress on this work but are not yet in a position to announce an opening date.
“We know the significance of the Castle for our city so this is a top priority and something we have a skilled and senior team working on, tackling it with pace and rigour – but it is vitally important that we get it right for Nottingham.
“We remain absolutely committed to reopening the site as soon as possible, but importantly, that the castle is reopened in a way that delivers what Nottingham people need from our internationally significant heritage asset.”
The instructions will be formally noted at Full Council on March 6.
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