Nottingham City Council says it wants major national and international brands to form part of the city centre’s future retail offer, alongside independent businesses.
The ambition forms part of wider work around the Nottingham City Vision 2050, which sets out long-term plans for the city’s economy, neighbourhoods, culture and public spaces.
The city’s retail core has faced major challenges in recent years, including the impact of the Covid pandemic and the collapse of intu, which left the former Broadmarsh shopping centre site unfinished.
Since then, parts of the city centre have seen signs of recovery. Bridlesmith Gate, for example, has attracted a number of independent businesses after years of empty units and declining footfall.
Councillor Ethan Radford, deputy leader of Nottingham City Council, said independent businesses remained important to the city centre, but Nottingham should also be attracting larger retailers.
He said: “There’s no reason why a city like Nottingham shouldn’t have an Apple store, or a UNIQLO, shops that have a national and international recognition that pull investment into the city.”
Asda has already confirmed plans to open a store in vacant ground-floor space at Broad Marsh Car Park, close to the new Central Library and wider Broad Marsh regeneration area.
The council’s long-term vision also includes improvements to public spaces, including Old Market Square.
The square’s fountains were switched off in June 2022 after water leaked into the electrical control room. Funding for their return was later removed as part of the council’s savings programme, following its declaration of effective bankruptcy.
The fountains cost around £1 million to install and the council previously said keeping them switched off saved around £30,000 a year in maintenance costs.
Councillor Andrew Rule, leader of the Nottingham Independents and Independent opposition group, said bringing them back should be an early priority.
He said: “I’d like to see the fountains turned back on in Market Square as a starter for ten.”
Councillor Radford said the Labour-run council also wanted to see the fountains return as part of wider changes in the city centre.
Public toilets in the city centre remain another issue raised by residents and visitors. Old Market Square once had underground toilets, which opened in 1947 and were used by more than one million people a year by 2002. They closed in 2005 when work began on the redesigned square.
The council’s wider vision also places emphasis on making Nottingham cleaner, greener and safer.
The former Broad Marsh site has already been partly transformed through the Green Heart, a new city centre park featuring planting, trees, wildflowers and a pond inspired by the area’s marshland history.
The council now wants to create more green spaces across the city centre and surrounding neighbourhoods, with the aim of reducing heat, improving air quality, supporting biodiversity and making streets more attractive.
Councillor Sam Lux, the council’s executive member for climate, said the aim was to create a network of smaller green spaces across Nottingham.
She said green infrastructure could help reduce flooding, lessen the impact of heatwaves, improve air quality and support nature.
Green Party councillor Shuguftah Quddoos said Nottingham could also look at examples from cities such as Medellin in Colombia, where streets have been planted with trees and greenery to create shaded “green corridors”.
She said she would also like to see more street art across the city, building on murals already seen in areas including the Lace Market, Bridlesmith Gate and Hyson Green.
The vision also refers to improving safety and cleanliness in the city. The council says it plans to increase street cleaning, employ more neighbourhood safety officers and introduce 40 youth workers.
Food, culture and events also form part of the ideas being discussed.
Councillor Quddoos said the former Debenhams building could be used for a food court inspired by east and southeast Asian hawker centres, offering affordable food and shared community space.
She said: “The old Debenhams building, on the ground floor, could become a hawker-style cafe like in east Asia. We need shared spaces to eat cheaply, and good quality food.”
There are also calls for Nottingham to make more of its cultural identity, including its association with Robin Hood.
Councillor Rule said the city had missed opportunities around the Robin Hood story and suggested Nottingham Castle could be used more for related events, including film screenings.
Councillor Neghat Khan, leader of Nottingham City Council, said the city needed to put Robin Hood “at the forefront” of what it does.
The council is also looking at bringing back some events which were removed during earlier budget savings, including Bonfire Night and the Riverside Festival.
A future Bonfire Night event could include a drone show rather than traditional fireworks, which the council says could reduce long-term costs and make the event more suitable for pets and people affected by loud noises.
Other political groups have set out broader aspirations for the city’s economy and housing.
Councillor Kirsty Jones, of the Nottingham People’s Alliance, said she wanted residents to have a greater stake in the local economy, with more good-quality council tenancies, a better regulated private rented sector and more co-operative ownership of local assets and businesses.
She said neighbourhoods also needed access to health services, education, sustainable transport, food growing or buying spaces, and free places where people can meet, such as community centres and libraries.
The Nottingham City Vision 2050 is intended to guide the city’s long-term direction, but many of the ideas would require further work, funding and formal decisions before they could be delivered.
