On 30th September 2024 the Assembly Rooms car park closed in readiness for the demolition of the entire venue

Assembly Rooms: Car park closes amid controversy over demolition

In this previous article Derby News concluded:

When viewed objectively, it is clear that:

• the plans, post-demolition are not comprehensive and not contracted, they are just ideas – it does not meet Condition 3
• closing the car park in September 2024 is premature – there will be a loss of revenue to the Council of around £0.5m pa
• if demolition does take place then there is a real risk that it will remain idle for years, much like Becketwell.

The Council should not waver from the principle of its Condition 3 and make sure that a genuinely executable plan is in place before demolition takes place and certainly before the car park is closed. The shambles continues…

The car park was closed but subsequently, the demolition activity was postponed, indefinitely.

The closure of the car park was premature.

Does Derby City Council know the financial consequences of this action? It would appear not.

On 16th September 2024 Derby News submitted a Freedom of Information Request to Derby City Council:

1. What is the property valuation in the Council’s accounts of the car park?
2. What is the gross income ( takings only) in the most recent/available 12 month period?
3. Any other income
4. For the same period what were the running costs split between :
   a.Utilities – electricty, water , gas
   b.Building / contents maintenance/repairs
   c.Rates ( any other internal Derby City Council costs)
   d.Direct Staff costs
   e.Any other costs – detail if greater than £10,000.

TOTAL of a to e must equal the total costs attributable to the car park.

How is the loss of income reflected in the 2024/25 Budget?

Under the normal rules a response was due by 16th October 2024;

• this was missed and deferred until 20th October;
• this was missed and deferred until 15th November
• this was missed and there was silence
• the latest “promise” is now 31st December 2024 with the excuse:

“Unfortunately, it is still taking the Council longer than expected to deal with your request because of the workload of the department responsible for providing the information.”

The Council cannot arbitrarily decide who they will or won’t respond to. They have an obligation to provide answers in 20 working days. The questions asked sould be fundamental to its decision.

It’s evident that the Council does not know the answer to the question or is concerned that the answer does not bear scrutiny.

The supposition is that the Council is foregoing significant revenue which exceeds many of the “savings” in the budget and could be used wisely to support vulnerable people in Derby.

The decisions around the whole site have not been made in a strategic way; suffering from fractured thinking and tactical planning with no insight and leadership into the future of the Market Place.

The shambles continues…