Erewash council in talks with Government over 'big risks' of missing project deadlines

A Derbyshire council is in talks with the Government over the risk of losing funding due to delays on projects it has been awarded funding for. At an Erewash Borough Council meeting this week (Tuesday, February 27), the leading executive group of councillors was told of the “big risks” to its Long Eaton Town Deal schemes.

Saverio Della Rocca, the council’s director of resources, said: “One of the big risks is we won’t be able to spend the money by the Government deadline (March 2025) and we are in conversation with Government about that now. There are one or two projects where we need to consider whether we should continue or whether we should stop a project or do something different.”

James Dawson, council leader, said: “We know we are not the only Town Deal facing issues. Broxtowe is also facing issues with its Kimberley project so we are not the only council in conversation with Government.” The Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) detailed last week that the council’s Galaxy Row Cinema project was currently delayed by 14 months and is one of the schemes at risk of losing its Government funding.

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Its plan is to compulsory purchase the former cinema in Derby Road, Long Eaton, demolish it and build 16 flats, four houses and three shops, costing £5 million to £9 million. However, the attempted compulsory purchase is still going through the legal process and officials currently forecast that the project to start construction on the site – following demolition – would not begin until March 2025 and not be complete until the end of 2026.

Government funding for the project, through the successful £25 million Town Deal awarded in 2021, is set to lapse at the end of March 2025. In August last year, the council had detailed that it had been trying to buy the affected buildings for more than two years – 27 months to be exact.

That had included at least three formal offers for the former cinema and the owner rejecting these and instead advertising the property for sale at £575,000. It is currently advertising the redevelopment Galaxy Row site, a shop and Stage One nightclub – none of which it owns – on the estate agent Rightmove, in an attempt to secure a “development partner”.

It is offering the “development partner” a “minimum” of £2 million to deliver the scheme. The council has detailed that work to improve the high street is also currently not set for completion until May 2026, two months beyond the end of the Town Deal funding.

Other schemes are also experiencing delays but are not forecast to surpass the March 2025 funding deadline.

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