Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council was awarded around £50 million for Nuneaton regeneration projects over the last 4-5 years. In addition, the County Council was proposing tens of millions in Highway works and a new combined Library and Business centre on the site of the now closed Wilko store and post office sorting centre.
However, all the projects have been either delayed or scrapped as costs were never realistic, projects were overambitious and that resulted in arguments between Borough and County councils (both then Conservative controlled). It came to a head at the February 2024 NBBC budget setting meeting when the cabinet scrapped £43 million worth of projects, including some of the WCC highway projects funded via grants to NBBC. The whole fiasco will have wasted 3 years and cost millions in written-off design costs. An example is the Bridge to Living project on the corner of Bridge Street and Church street. The whole curve was bought by the Borough Council, businesses evicted and the council is now having to pay business rates as the project goes back to the drawing board. We need to quickly make a new start and also release the consultant’s report on which the cancellations were based.
Going forward, we are hoping that part of the site will be opened up to provide a connection from Bridge Street into the park, before the long term solution is found.
Abbey Street Phase 2– Building empty buildings
The construction contract for phase 2 of the Abbey Street project seems to have been signed in December 2024, with an order for £19.2 million with BAM. Phase 2 comprises new college building which is being leased to North Warwickshire and South Leicestershire College, a food court and a proposed ‘leisure box’. A lease agreement (signed under the last Conservative administration) had been agreed with the Really Local Group Ltd to provide a cinema in the Leisure box. This lease has now been terminated after concerns were raised by Keith Kondakor.
Keith told a recent full council meeting that “All except one of the cinema operator’s other ventures have now failed at various stages, either being called off (like in Hayes, Canning Town and Royal Albert Docks), being repossessed for non payment of rent (in the case of Catford Mews) , entering administration (like Peckham Levels) or entering liquidation (for its cinemas in Ealing, Sidcup and Reading). The one venue that has not yet failed, cost the tax payer around £2.8 million and has so far lasted around 8 months. I cannot see how it can last on its own. Back in 2023 there should have been a proper business case done for Nuneaton cinema as the operator’s venues that had then not failed were clearly in distress“.
We really want the venues to be a success and hope viable operators can be found for the food hall and leisure box. It would be another disaster to have spent so much to have them sit empty like the old Woolworths.