As Homes England moves the Broad Marsh development forward, public consultation continues. Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust’s Erin McDaid argues that whilst the UK Government continues to push the false narrative that nature is a blocker of growth, Nottingham’s Green Heart shows that nature can unlock a once in a generation transformation of our city.
In an increasingly chaotic and challenging world, it can be difficult to keep track of changes. In many respects, 2020 seems like an age ago, but in the context of the regeneration of the Broad Marsh, it’s worth reflecting on what led us to where we are today – the exciting prospect of an unprecedented nature-led transformation of our city.
After years navigating choppy corporate waters, Intu, the retail investment trust that bought the Broadmarsh Shopping Centre from Westfield back in 2011 - announced that rather than completing a long-awaited £80 million pound revamp, it would effectively hand the site to Nottingham City Council. This unexpected turn of events left the authority with a part-demolished 1960s carbuncle on its hands amid a cost-of-living crisis and a global pandemic which was rapidly accelerating the seemingly terminal decline of the traditional high street.
As soon as Intu walked away, chatter about what should be done with the site grew louder. The suggestion of cancelling the revamp and creating a new green open space was initially championed by Ewan Cameron, a freelance writer and teacher from West Bridgford, who launched a hugely successful change.org petition. This struck a real chord with us at Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust as we had been championing urban wildlife since the 1980s. It also reminded me of a conversation I’d had with our former Chair and long-time city greenspace champion, Tom Huggon, not long after I’d joined the Trust almost thirty years earlier.
Tom had outlined his vision of a greener city ‘once the Broadmarsh has gone’, one where people centred spaces replaced parts of the shopping centre and the multi-laned bus and car dominated Collin Street. Tom even spoke of the potential to open views towards the Castle beyond the much-maligned multi-story car park at the bottom of Maid Marian Way. The visionary nature of his proposition made a lasting impression on me – not least because I’d grown up shopping in the then bustling Broadmarsh and because the frankly depressing Collin Street was one of Nottingham’s busiest roads. just couldn’t imagine the future that Tom was suggesting.
Laying the ground for change
Set against the backdrop of lockdowns which led many people to reassess the value of local green space, Ewan’s petition gathered real momentum, quickly garnering thousands of signatures. The positive reaction to his audacious suggestion, combined with Tom’s long-term vision for the site and the Wildlife Trust’s commitment to ensuring everyone has fair access to nature, led to the development of our Broadmarsh Reimagined campaign. This set out an ambitious future for our city, which harnessed nature to drive change and attract new investment. A new vision for a nature-first transformation was brought to life thanks to a set of aspirational visualisations produced by our friends at Influence Landscape Planning & Design.
Having championed the nature-first approach for the Broadmarsh, we want to ensure that the strength of public feeling that nature must be at the heart of plans continues to come through loud and clear
Ewan’s petition and our campaign were each backed by around 12,000 people, whilst further grassroots efforts - like Green Hustle and Nottingham Climate Assembly’s well-attended Reimagining Broadmarsh meeting, and the Nottingham Green Quarter project - further spurred a snowballing movement. These ideas were then fed into the City Council’s ‘Big Conversation’ - their biggest consultation to date, seeing 3,000 individual submissions and 11,000 comments taken on board. Nature and more green space came out as the top demand, as well as calls for celebrating heritage and a mixed use development including housing and space for small businesses
Despite the clear public support for an ambitious new green space, there was early resistance from some within the City Council. As more groups added weight to the argument that natural greenspace should at least be part of the solution, the concept gathered momentum. It was then wildly embraced by internationally renowned architect Thomas Heatherwick and his team - brought in by the Broad Marsh Advisory Group to shape proposals. I can vividly remember the sheer enthusiasm of Heatherwick's team when me and my Chief Executive, Paul Wilkinson - who’s passion and determination were crucial factors in us holding our nerve and sustaining the campaign – met them on site to outline our concept.
By this stage it was clear that the Council, guided by the advisory board, could see the potential of nature to help unlock inward investment and to deliver a truly ambitious regeneration scheme that could help differentiate Nottingham and help it stand out from the crowd from every other city seeking investment. Whilst a combination of financial and structural challenges led to some of the more eccentric elements of Heatherwick’s grand plans being toned down, the green thread that ran through the design was subsequently woven into the Broad Marsh Masterplan launched in May last year – centred on the Green Heart which opened in September 2024.
Have your say
It’s time to restate the case for the nature-first approach to Broad Marsh.
In March 2025, the Broad Marsh site was bought by Homes England, a national agency that works to enable the regeneration of our towns and cities, with a view to refining the Master Plan and securing a commercial developer for the site. Whilst there is still a long-way to go to shape the final plans, Homes England seem to have embraced the Master Plan which takes cues from the ‘nature first’ approach to the creation of the Green Heart – and incorporates additional natural greenspaces, street level planting, plus green walls, green roofs and planting on parts of retained Broadmarsh frame.
Similarly, the East Midlands Combined Authority, which provided crucial funding to unlock the purchase by Homes England, and with whom Homes England have just set up a new Strategic Place Partnership, has decarbonising the economy and harnessing nature for health and wellbeing as guiding principles in its vision for growth. So, whilst the Government continues to claim that nature is a blocker on development, here in Nottingham we have forward-thinking partners brought together by the City Council to finalise and deliver a Masterplan for Broad Marsh which has nature at its heart – its Green Heart.
Having championed the nature-first approach for the Broad Marsh, we want to ensure that the strength of public feeling that nature must be at the heart of plans continues to come through loud and clear. If we’re creating a new quarter let’s do something different and make Nottingham stand out from the crowd with a new nature quarter?
We'll continue to make the case for an ambitious scheme which embraces the power of nature to create a vibrant and sustainable new city quarter where people can live, work and connect with wildlife right where they live but it’s vital that as many people as possible share their views.
The online engagement hub for the future of the Broad Marsh site is now live, and you can have your say on the latest phase of consultation until Sunday 18 January 2026.
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