Late bid to stop demolition plan for former bank

ART DECO BUILDING SET TO MAKE WAY AS PART OF CITY CENTRE FLOOD DEFENCE WORK

- By ZENA HAWLEY

AN 11th-hour petition has been set up to try to save an Art Deco building in Derby city centre that formerly housed a branch of NatWest Bank.

Crompton House in Derwent Street was built in 1938 but is set to be demolished in the near future as part of the Our City Our River (OCOR) flood defence work by Derby City Council.

Although plans were revealed several years ago for the area around Stuart Street - which also include the demolition of the office blocks alongside the river, turning the area into a flood plain park, and a flood wall and gates to protect Exeter House and properties on Meadow Road and Meadow Lane – notices being sent to residents and businesses currently have prompted a backlash against the loss of the building.

These explain that as part of phase one, condition surveys will be taking place, trees will be removed along Meadow Road and Crompton House and buildings in Stuart Street will be demolished.

This has prompted Councillor Steve Hassall, leader of the council's Conservative group, to create the petition and also to write to the city council about the concerns that people are raising about the plan though the Labour-run council points out that Cllr Hassall was a member of the planning committee when the decision was approved in 2023.