Huge £20m Bulwell project paving way for more investment in neighbourhoods

Work on Bulwell town centre’s revamp began in October last year, with the Bogs getting a new splash pad, while new children’s play equipment and landscaping improvements have been put in place too.

This area will feature a refreshments kiosk, as well as toilet and changing facilities to create a new summer destination for residents and visitors.

The Market Place will soon benefit from new stalls, featuring improved access to electricity outlets to provide a better space for traders on market days, while the nearby public toilets at the bus station are being completely rebuilt.

The new splash pad won’t open in time for the summer months, but many of the improvements will be completed within the next month, before the entire project is finished by the end of the year.

Coun Ethan Radford, city council deputy leader who represents Bulwell, said: “It’s all on track to be delivered, certainly in the coming month or so and people are very excited about this.

“It is incredible to see the money get invested in the area.

“It is something Bulwell has been waiting for for a very, very long time.

"It will be the shot in the arm the area has been asking for.”

The project is being funded with a grant secured by the council in late 2023 from the previous Conservative government’s Levelling Up Fund.

Coun Radford said the project forms part of the council’s drive to invest more in the neighbourhoods surrounding the city centre, with many of these areas having suffered from underinvestment through the austerity years.

Once the town centre has been given a revamp, improved CCTV, lighting, and continued investment in Community Protection Officers (CPOs) and street cleansing will help keep the area free from anti-social behaviour.

He said: “You can’t just pile everything into the city centre.

“You need some regeneration in the neighbourhoods.

"Not just because not everyone goes into the city centre, but you want that vibrant and sustainable local economy that meets everyone’s needs around the city.

“It is certainly our intention with some of the money we have allocated in the budget to actually start putting some of those plans together.

“We’ve put additional CPOs on the streets and we are bringing more online as we speak.

“Our intention is for those to be focused on the neighbourhoods and the outer estates.

“I think there are discussions to be had with the police about the level of policing in the city centre, but I think the intention of the CPOs is certainly to be a visible presence in communities and neighbourhoods to tackle low-level anti-social behaviour issues that can really ruin community’s sense of wellbeing.”

In June Paul Seddon, the council’s planning director said he hoped the methodology used to regenerate the city centre would be replicated across the suburbs.

He told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “It feels the heart of Nottingham will always be its city centre, but actually, it has got beating hearts.

“We want good, functioning, connected neighbourhoods, where it feels as fair in terms of the attention and quality as maybe some of the more recently invested-in parts of the city centre.”