Today marks a significant moment for Nottingham ? we can now look forward to Nottingham Castle reopening its gates to the public for the first time since its ?30m redevelopment, on June 21^st.

I am thrilled about the prospect of the first visitors seeing the renewed visitor offer at the Castle in just two months? time. I?m also incredibly proud of the efforts of a dedicated team of City Council officers who along with Councillor Dave Trimble have enthusiastically driven this project forward to fruition.

The City Council has long held an ambition to transform the visitor experience at Nottingham Castle, setting up a project team in 2012 to realise the goal of making the Castle a world-class attraction which will bring a significant boost to the local economy. It has taken vision, determination and hard work to get here, involving securing significant funding before designing and carrying out substantial improvement work through regional contractor G F Tomlinson.

This ambitious project has been put into action with the help of funding partners the National Lottery Heritage Fund, D2N2 Local Enterprise Partnership and Nottingham Castle Trust.

Despite Covid, we have delivered the improvement works on time and on budget. It was frustrating to have to delay the reopening due to the Covid restrictions, but we now have a firm date to plan ahead for ? the date the Government has earmarked for lockdown restrictions to come to an end.

That?s something we can all look forward to and I have no doubt that like me, Nottingham people will feel incredibly proud of this significant moment in Nottingham Castle?s long history.

Find out more about Nottingham Castle here: https://www.nottinghamcastle.org.uk/

The Nottingham Castle project was always at the heart of the City Council?s vision for the wider regeneration of the city, with ?2bn of redevelopments currently underway transforming the city?s Southside and further significant plans in the pipeline such as reimagining the Broadmarsh site, to help put Nottingham on the map.

The significance of the reopening of a rejuvenated Nottingham Castle cannot be over-estimated ? especially coming as it does when the whole country is emerging from lockdown.

This achievement is absolutely central to and symbolic of our vision for Nottingham?s future ? a city where there are jobs and opportunities for local people as well as somewhere that increasing numbers of people will want to come and visit, boosting our standing and our economy.

The project is among the ?2bn of developments that are currently underway as the Southside of the city in transformed in ways that, according to report by research and policy institute Centre for Cities earlier this year, will help to make Nottingham an appealing post-Covid destination. Streets once choked with traffic are being turned into pleasant public spaces connecting new developments including the new Nottingham College City Hub, the new central library, car park and bus station complex and Nottingham Castle.

A vision for the vast Broadmarsh Centre site is being developed while work on another major site, the Island Quarter, gets underway and other new developments such as the new HMRC offices reshape the area.

The Castle?s redevelopment and reopening is a cornerstone of the city?s regeneration, which makes Nottingham well placed to recover strongly as a city post-Covid. Those regeneration efforts are already well underway, with huge potential still to unlock such as at Broad Marsh, and will set a fresh, ambitious direction for Nottingham for generations to come.

The timing of its reopening coinciding with the final stage of the National Roadmap will now mean the Castle also plays a big part in the city bouncing back from the impact of the pandemic.

Acting as a major draw for people to come back into the city and enjoy what it has to offer, it will help to support local retail and hospitality businesses as they and their customers emerge from over a year of on-off Covid restrictions on June 21^st.

• For the 9.5m people living within 90 minutes? drive, it will provide an absorbing visit of up to 3-4 hours, with an improved cave experience, galleries with interactive exhibits telling Nottingham?s stories of Robin Hood and rebellion, plus a fantastic new outdoor play area and visitor centre
• The renewed Nottingham Castle experience is expected to boost regional, national and international visitor numbers from 222,000 to 400,000 in the first year of full opening
• Visitors are expected to spend a total of ?217m in Nottingham over the next 10 years
• Around 420 extra jobs a year are expected to be created in the city?s tourism and leisure sectors, along with 270 construction jobs and opportunities for 500