Plan to reopen Nottingham Castle gets green light

Nottingham Castle will reopen to the public after plans were formally approved by the city council.

The museum and heritage site closed last November due to the collapse of the charitable trust that ran it. It had been open for just 18 months following a £31m redevelopment.

Members of Nottingham City Council's executive board backed a strategy that will see the city centre site open to the public from May. However, the council is yet to decide whether the site will be run by its own museum and gallery service, by an external provider, or in partnership.

Pavlos Kotsonis, the council’s Portfolio Holder for Leisure, Culture and Planning, said: “This is a site which belongs to the whole of Nottingham and I’m hopeful that our approach, which draws on our successful experience of running Wollaton and Newstead, will first and foremost meet with local approval.

“I have no doubt that Nottingham Castle can also become a destination of national and international importance, just as we had envisaged when the £31m of improvements were completed.”

Council Leader David Mellen reportedly told the board: “We needed to get this open as quickly as we can, and we have done that now.”