Nottingham: 'Bankrupt' council will not sell historic sites - leader

David Mellen said the sale of historic buildings, like Wollaton Hall, was "bottom of the list"

Nottingham City Council leader David Mellen has insisted the struggling authority will not sell its most historic attractions.

The council declared itself effectively bankrupt in November, warning it would not be able to balance its books.

Mr Mellen said the government confirmed that the authority would be given special powers to sell property to prop up its day-to-day spending.

However, he said that would not include key landmarks.

He was asked about the future of council-owned sites like Nottingham Castle, Wollaton Hall, and Newstead Abbey during a BBC Radio Nottingham interview on Wednesday.

He confirmed the government had approved a package of "exceptional financial support" on Tuesday that would allow the council to use receipts from building and land sales for its revenue costs.

However, he added: "Selling our stately homes would be very much bottom of our list.

"We are certainly not going to sell those things if I have anything to do with it."

Newstead Abbey is the former home of poet Lord Byron

Mr Mellen was asked if a newly-appointed team of commissioners, brought in to help run the council, would overrule him and force him to sell the buildings.

The Labour council leader said while the buildings would not be sold, the way they were run might change.

Mr Mellen revealed he met the commissioners for the first time this week to discuss their role.

"They have said they would rather not use their powers. They don't want to be interfering in individual decisions," he said.

"They will just say 'have you set a budget' and 'are you doing the right things to improve your finances and the improve the way you run your organisation?'"

Mr Mellen said he could not rule out the closure of some libraries in the city but said the new £10.5m facility in Broad Marsh would remain open.

He said: "It will survive. We only just opened it. It would be ridiculous to close it."

Council leader David Mellen said thousands of people had opposed the authority's proposed budget cuts

Three commissioners will oversee the full range of the council's improvement activities, including strategies to secure the medium and long-term financial sustainability of the council and plans to transform front-line services.

Lead commissioner Tony McArdle OBE met Mr Mellen and council chief executive Mel Barrett on Tuesday.

He said: "We arrive with quite a set of powers and our initial way into this will be to leave those powers on the table for the council to use.

"We are not intending to use them in the first instance, the secretary of state has expressed the desire that we should only use them if we have to and that's where we would be coming from as well."

Petition opposing cuts

The city council is to meet on Monday to discuss a budget proposing wide-ranging cuts to services to try to plug a predicted £53m budget gap in 2024-25.

The budget also proposes the loss of 554 full-time equivalent posts and a 4.99% council tax increase from April.

Mr Mellen said the council's financial woes were caused by government underfunding.

He said the quality of life in the city would be worse if all the cuts are approved.

He said more than 10,000 people had opposed the proposed cuts in a petition, which will be delivered to the government on Friday.

The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) has been approached for comment.

Additional reporting by the Local Democracy Reporting Service