Ollerton regeneration project moves forward as council plugs £1.3m gap

Newark and Sherwood District Council signed off a business case for the Ollerton town centre regeneration scheme at a meeting on Tuesday, October 14.

However, the authority says it is having to plug a £1.3m gap in funding for the scheme, which has faced a number of challenges.

In 2023, the previous Conservative Government awarded £20m from its Levelling Up Fund to schemes in Ollerton and Clipstone – but these were put on hold while the new Labour Government reviewed them.

In November last year, the council said the Government had re-committed the funding to the schemes.

The scheme, which must be delivered by March 2028, will introduce a new cinema, café, public sector hub and housing to the village.

During a council cabinet meeting on Tuesday, a council officer said: “Since the report to cabinet in April this year, a significant amount of progress has been made on developing and refining the designs, and the business case for the town centre regeneration plans.”

The officer said changes include separating the cinema and café block from the public sector hub to create a stronger frontage for the cinema to make it more attractive for an operator.

The height of the public sector hub has been reduced from two storeys to a ground floor-only building, following the withdrawal of Nottinghamshire County Council from the scheme.

A proposed library and gallery space has also been removed from the designs.

“The approval of the additional financial contribution will allow the full business case to be signed off by the relevant delegated officers, unlocking the project’s ability to proceed into the next stage,” the officer added.

Coun Paul Peacock (Lab), leader of the council, added: “I am pleased you have given us reassurance around that, particularly because of the situation of Nottinghamshire County Council withdrawing support, which has made that business case extremely challenging.

“The end product is still hitting the priorities and needs of the local community, and I think that has to be applauded to have worked under difficult circumstances to get us a scheme that is still going to deliver what we wanted it to deliver, and valuable to the people of Ollerton and surrounding areas.”

The details of many planning applications can be found in public notices advertised by local and regional newspapers. To catch up on all the latest public notices, go to https://publicnoticeportal.uk/