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Dereliction and Redevelopment
Behind the scenes
Meanwhile the Property Services Agency, which was the landowner of all redundant military sites, was seeking a buyer for the land. At the same time it was added to the Nottinghamshire County Council list of derelict sites, and Frank Kerry, head of the Reclamation Department began to consider what could be done with it.
“Everyone wanted it restored to something ‘green’. The idea of returning it to farmland was a non-starter, as by this time, the mid 1980s, nobody wanted reclaimed land for agriculture. It would never sell. We had the idea of a Country Park, but we had to meet the Department of the Environment criteria of “Value for Money.” We did not have to make a profit, but had to show we were striving for the best deal we could get. Something else would have to be combined with a Country Park. We thought housing development might be put with it, but the District Council were very, very much against it. Then I had the bright idea of a Business Park. I did a tour of the Business Parks down in southern England, and they were very different from industrial area. I came back with the idea of an attractively landscaped Business Park combined with a Country Park. We began to work on that.”
The Story > Chapter 9 > Section 9.04