Nottingham City Council to sell off small business park to help with major budget gap

Nottingham City Council is set to sell a small business park off to a private owner as part of plans to help reduce its major budget gap. Miall Court, on Miall Street in Radford, is currently home to a number of businesses across several units, including Gracie Barra martial arts school, RW Autocar repairs and Hussain Autos MOT centre.

A statement included as the reason for the decision on a council document said: "The Council has faced a budget gap of over £50m for 2024/25 due to issues facing councils across the country including increased demand for children's and adults' social care, rising homelessness presentations and inflation.

"This has meant savings of over £36m need to be made between 2025 to 2027/28 to set a balanced budget, which is a legal requirement for all councils. In addition, the Council has been granted Exceptional Financial Support (EFS) from the Government of up to c£66.143m - £25m for 2023/24 and £41.143m in 2024/25.

"EFS is not additional funding from Government but allows the Council to use capital resources, including from asset sales to fund revenue costs for services. Asset rationalisation is also a significant part of the Council's Improvement Plan 2024 and Budget Strategy."

The business park has been reviewed by the council and endorsed as being suitable to get rid of. The delegated decision document states that the council did consider not selling the asset, but that doing so would present a "financial risk" due to the potential for the need for the council to spend on repairs, maintenance and compliance works, and the potential for the property to become "management intensive".

The park is also described as a "poor quality" asset which is "likely to underperform in the future". The site, off Middleton Street near Ilkeston Road, will be sold via auction.