Nottingham City Council has approved the allocation of up to £275,000 to procure external support services for the development of transport projects under the Transforming City Regions programme.
The decision, taken on 27 January 2026 under delegated powers, covers up to £225,000 of revenue funding and £50,000 of capital funding to support feasibility work, design development, transport modelling, business case preparation and project management across the programme.
The funding forms part of the Council’s wider transport programme for 2025/26, which includes allocations through the Local Transport Plan Integrated Transport Block, the Transforming City Regions programme and Active Travel Fund round 5. These allocations were approved by the Council’s Executive Board in April 2025, with schemes agreed in partnership with the East Midlands County Combined Authority and prioritised for delivery within the current financial year.
Within the Transforming City Regions award, Nottingham City Council received £1 million in revenue funding to carry out feasibility and development work on future transport schemes. This includes work on the Inner Ring Road, linked to the next phase of the Broad Marsh regeneration, such as proposals to straighten the southern section of Maid Marian Way to the Canal Street junction and extend Collin Street public realm improvements to Maid Marian Way.
The approved allocation will fund several areas of external support. Up to £75,000 will be used to procure quantity surveying and landscape architecture services to develop design and cost proposals for public realm schemes in the Broad Marsh area.
Up to £100,000 will fund expanded transport modelling, building on existing work at the Canal Street, Castle Boulevard and Maid Marian Way junction and extending analysis to later phases of Inner Ring Road improvements, the Nottingham Station Gateway and the A6514 Ring Road. Up to £50,000 will support business case development for future funding bids to the Combined Authority, and a further £50,000 of capital funding will provide additional project management capacity.
The Council said external support is required because internal resources and specialist expertise are insufficient to deliver the scale of development work needed within the required timescales. The procurement of external services is intended to ensure that schemes are developed quickly enough to meet funding conditions and position the city to secure future transport investment.
The decision also reflects the wider regional funding context. As part of the 2025 Spending Review, the East Midlands Combined County Authority was awarded £2.038 billion in capital funding for transport infrastructure across the region up to 2031/32. The Council states that further development work is necessary to maximise opportunities to draw down future funding for Nottingham projects.
Financial officers confirmed that the £225,000 revenue commitment is fully covered by the existing £1 million allocation approved in 2025 and that no additional pressure on the Council’s medium-term financial plan is expected, as the funding is ring-fenced for feasibility and development activity.
Because the total value of the decision is below £300,000, it was approved as an operational decision under delegated authority by the Corporate Director of Growth and City Development.
