Alarm bells ring at Nottingham Regeneration

Marc Cole was out of the Nottingham Regeneration offices less than two hours after news emerged that he had taken a new job in Lincolnshire.
But it was only a fire alarm that forced him to make a dash for the front door, not the boot of his bosses.
Nevertheless, this comical coincidence only added to the questions about the future of the agency supposed to drive the regeneration of key parts of Nottingham.
Mr Cole's decision to leave was announced only 24 hours after we had revealed that a new organisation would be overseeing growth and inward investment(and therefore regeneration) across the whole of Nottinghamshire from next year.
While Mr Cole denies that his departure has anything to do with these moves, it is clearly no accident.
Indeed, one of NRL's own board members, Ken Grundy, said the emergence of a new body raised questions about whether NRL needs the same kind of leadership in the future.
The moves to try to bring the various economic development and regeneration bodies in Notts under one roof have been going on for months and Mr Cole may have drawn his own conclusions some time ago.
So what does he leave behind?
The three Nottingham regeneration zones that he inherited – Eastside, Southside and Waterside – struggled to gain traction even when the economy was at its height, with impressive masterplans followed by inactivity.
There were concrete plans for a new community to be built on Waterside; they have been shelved amid an economic downturn. There were rumours that Nottingham City Council might kick off Eastside by building a new office complex; the idea was never approved by councillors.
Preparatory works continue at both locations. But only the plans for Southside – centred around the transformation of Nottingham Railway Station into a transport hub joing train, tram and bus – remain immediately logical.
Mr Cole's departure is not an admission of failure (though the press release announcing it went down like a lead balloon with NRL's board). But the landscape on which his organisation is operating has changed drastically, the credit crunch having sucked the life out of the property development industry.
Will the new Nottinghamshire Economic Development Company – for it will surely take charge of things – maintain its commitment to three massive regeneration projects in the same way?
Or will it try to keep Southside moving while developing a momentum based on what we have already got rather than what we might like?
The economic landscape may have changed, but Nottingham has to keep up the momentum for redevelopment and regeneration. Otherwise the alarm bells will start ringing again.