Nottinghamshire County Council is due to introduce a series of new ways to help generate more than £392,500 from its assets from late spring until March 2027.

These income-generating plans include:

· Introducing car parking charges for those who park at County Hall, West Bridgford, for non-council use. Current charges will continue for Nottingham Forest home games and other sporting events such as international cricket fixtures at Trent Bridge.

· Designating part of the lower County Hall car park as a park and ride to East Midlands Airport, given the convenience of the Skylink bus service, which offers a direct, limited stop service to the airport from outside County Hall.

· Reviewing rent and lease arrangements of council-owned land and buildings such as industrial units, farm tenancies and a whole array of other assets that generate an income stream for the council. It is estimated this could bring in an extra £60,000 until the end of March 2027.

· Subject to a licence and going out to tender, the installation of licensed parcel lockers is planned, working with established parcel/courier providers at key council sites such as libraries, bus stations, car parks and other suitable locations.

Monitoring has shown that the County Hall parking area is being used by the public for non-council use, particularly in the evenings.

These investigations have shown that up to 120 spaces each day could be made available for public parking (excluding staff, councillors and visitors) at County Hall, so this would not impact parking availability for those working from the building.

To better manage the car park and ensure minimum disruption to traffic flow, Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras are planned to be introduced late spring 2026.

Currently, parking for sporting events are managed by existing staff on an overtime basis who collect payments. The installation of ANPR cameras, which are still subject to being purchased, would save on staffing costs as parking charges will be paid via an app-based system.

The council will be going out to tender for locker operators in the coming weeks. The locker operators would subsequently be granted a licence to which could see a potential annual income for the council of £30,000. These lockers will be owned and installed by the locker operators, who will also be responsible for any running and maintenance costs.

Councillor James Walker-Gurley, the county council's Cabinet Member for Economic Development and Asset Management, welcomed these income-generating plans. He said:

“It is important that we really maximise council assets and land.

“We want to be as commercially-savvy as possible with our assets and land, which is why we are looking at the best ways to generate income. This is good news for taxpayers as we can invest this money back into council services.

"The investment of an ANPR system will in the long term help us reduce current car parking operating costs, help generate income as well as making sure the primary use of the car park during normal working hours is for staff parking and for those visiting County Hall.”

 

ENDS