Derby Assembly Rooms demolition reaction

Derby City Council leader Nadine Peatfield (Lab). Image by LDRS.

Derby City Council’s leader has insisted residents will see “tangible progress” of the Assembly Rooms demolition in the New Year – but fears remain that a big hole could be left there for many years.

The demolition of the long-empty city centre building was given the all-clear at a planning meeting on Thursday night (September 3rd).

A majority of councillors voted to discharge a condition in place, paving the way for bulldozing to begin.

It followed an announcement from the Labour-led council that it had completed a ‘Master Development Agreement’ with ION Property Developments Limited to deliver the £100 million Market Place regeneration plans.

The regeneration project – approved in July – will see a new multi-use building take its place, which would run as a music venue, cultural/exhibition space, library, working space and meeting areas, including a rooftop bar.

A four-star hotel and high-quality office space will also be built.

Derby City Council leader Nadine Peatfield said residents will be able to see visible signs of demolition work in the coming months.

She said: “Finally, this was the milestone that needed to be in place to pave the way for us to begin transforming the Market Place and breathe new life into this vital area of the city centre.

“Now the planning conditions have been satisfied, we will continue to work with our development partners to take these plans forward, with residents being able to see tangible progress on site in early 2027.”

But concerns have still been raised by other political figures across the city.

Littleover councillor Lucy Care – who is also the leader of the Liberal Democrat group – said she was worried the development “may not give the outcome we as a city council thought might hope for”.

She said at the meeting: “The Assembly Rooms as it exists is in a poor way.

“It still isn’t certain to my knowledge where all the funding will come from to deliver this within the seven-year period.

“I still really hope we don’t end up with a hole or a part-developed site for significant [time] or more than seven years.”

Chair of the planning committee Councillor Jerry Pearce said he understood the concerns of Cllr Care and said developers would need to be “pushed” to ensure progress was being made.

He said: “I don’t want to see a hole in the ground for years and years.”

Alvaston South councillor Tim Prosser – who leads the Reform Derby group – expressed concerns after the meeting.

He claimed there was “no credible business plan” for the redevelopment and raised concerns about the cost to taxpayers of delivering the scheme.

Councillor Prosser said: “I really want positive action and a resolution to this problem. However, throwing money in the air and hoping something fantastic will land will create a much bigger headache than the city should bear.”

However, Cllr Prosser did not raise his concerns during the planning committee, of which he is a member and attended.

Conservative group leader Steve Hassall said he was disappointed the building was being demolished.

In a statement after the meeting, he said: “I still feel more could and should have been done to explore a realistic future for the existing building. Sadly, that now appears not to be the direction being taken.

“My concern is that the sums and the desired outcome do not appear to line up.”

The council says demolition could take up to 12 months, and the construction of new buildings will start once complete.