Nottingham City Council has approved a 116-year lease allowing a former youth centre in Clifton to be used as a base for post-16 pupils with special educational needs and disabilities.
The former Clifton Young People’s Centre, on Green Lane, will be leased to Greenwood Academies Trust, which operates Nethergate Academy.
The lease will run until the same date as the trust’s existing lease for Nethergate Academy’s main site on Swansdowne Drive. It will be granted at a peppercorn rent, meaning the council will receive no rental income.
The delegated decision was approved by council leader Cllr Neghat Khan on 28 August. Authority has been given to the council’s corporate director for growth and city development to complete the agreement on appropriate terms.
Legal completion of the lease is still required before the transfer is finalised.
The decision has been exempted from the council’s usual call-in process, under which some decisions can be referred for further scrutiny before being implemented. The exemption was approved by the chair of the Corporate Scrutiny Committee on 27 August because the council said the agreement needed to be completed in time for the start of the new school year.
The building was previously used to provide Early Help services but closed in 2022 as part of a programme to rationalise services. It was declared surplus to the council’s operational requirements in March 2023.
Attempts to identify another community use were unsuccessful, and the building remained empty. The council said it continued to incur utility, maintenance and security costs and was at risk of deterioration and anti-social behaviour.
Education officers subsequently identified the site as suitable for post-16 SEND provision. Under the plans, Nethergate Academy’s post-16 provision will move to the former youth centre, releasing space at the academy’s Swansdowne Drive site for additional pupils with complex needs.
A consultation on the relocation ran between 24 February and 24 March 2025 and involved councillors, community organisations and other local stakeholders. The council’s report said no significant objections were received and the proposal attracted overall support.
The lease forms part of the council’s SEND Sufficiency Strategy for 2023 to 2028, which seeks to increase the number of specialist education places available in Nottingham.
The council said demand for specialist placements was continuing to rise and that creating more local provision could reduce its reliance on independent and non-maintained special schools, which typically cost more than maintained provision.
Day-to-day responsibility for the Green Lane building will transfer to Greenwood Academies Trust once the lease is activated. The council currently has an annual budget of £15,000 for costs associated with the vacant property, which it expects to save following the transfer. Legal fees connected with the decision are estimated at £5,000.
The council considered retaining the building while it remained empty, selling it for another use or making a further attempt to secure a community tenant. These options were rejected because they would either leave the authority responsible for continuing costs or prevent the site from being used to increase SEND capacity.
Council property officers concluded that its use for education was the most appropriate option after the building had remained vacant for a prolonged period.
The report identifies several matters that must be addressed as part of the handover, including completion of building works, statutory checks, health and safety certification and the provision of construction and product warranties.
Council property officers said they had not seen the warranties or been involved in signing off the practical completion of the work. Greenwood Academies Trust will therefore be expected to satisfy itself that the building, completed works and warranties are suitable before taking occupation.
The council has also been negotiating an early-access agreement with the trust so that fitting-out work can take place before the lease is formally completed. The report said this was intended to help the school meet its planned opening date while protecting the council if access is granted before legal completion.
Two appendices setting out the detailed lease terms and information relating to the option of selling the site have been withheld from publication because they contain commercially sensitive information. The council said disclosure could prejudice similar negotiations in the future.
