Announcement due on Nottingham Castle reopening due

Nottingham City Council has set out plans which could see the historic Nottingham Castle re-open to the public in June. The plans will need to be approved by councillors on the council’s Executive Board week.

The council propose that they will take over the operation of the castle by adding it back to its Museum and Galleries service. This would mean it is run alongside other heritage sites such as Newstead Abbey and Wollaton Hall. The option to fully reopen is up for approval with £2.1m marked in the council’s medium-term financial plan for its operation over the next three years.

If the recommendation is approved, it would give mean an activation period of three months to recruit and train staff while getting new systems in place. There would be new activities and pricing structures implemented if the decision goes ahead. Staff who were working at the castle before it closed were made redundant following the announcement.

There has been much debate and anger from the public about what would become of the castle after it was closed in November last year. The castle trust announced it was to be placed into liquidation just 18 months after the castle reopened following a £30m revamp. In a statement, they said it was “saddened and hugely disappointed” to be closing.

It is also proposed that there would need to be lessons learned about how best to operate the castle. This would help to inform future decisions around what could provide the best experience for all visitors.

If the new plans are approved then it would mean that there could be preview events planned as early as May. Visitors will be able to visit the castle again and enjoy its exhibitions, cave tours, cafe and craft shop. Not to mention the stunning views from outside.

The castle is thought to contribute an estimated £12m to £14m to the wider economy in Nottingham.

The City Council’s Portfolio Holder for Leisure, Culture and Planning, Cllr Pavlos Kotsonis, said: “We know there is a lot of love for Nottingham Castle and we were all devastated when it closed last year.”

“We committed to looking at ways to reopen the castle as soon as possible after Nottingham Castle Trust went into liquidation and handed the site back to us. This report recommends a way to do that by using the expertise of the council’s well-established Museums and Galleries service, which has previously run the site and has the skills, specialist knowledge and cultural partnership connections to quickly mobilise and successfully animate the site with a programme of activities.

“It is important to get this right and officers have worked tirelessly to achieve that, I am proud of the work done.”