‘We can never stop being ambitious for our city’ says council leader

2025 was a big year for Derby – and according to Councillor Nadine Peatfield, leader of Derby City Council and East Midlands Deputy Mayor, 2026 is set to be equally exciting.

At this year’s Annual Business Event, Nadine took to the stage for a conversation with Steve Hall, director of Steve Hall Communications and Marketing Derby non-executive director, in which she reflected on the momentum of Derby’s development.

She also talked about some of the projects to look out for in 2026 at both city and regional level.

Firstly, Nadine was asked to reflect on 2025 – a landmark year for Derby as it witnessed the opening of a number of major schemes, such as Vaillant Live, the refurbished Derby Market Hall and the University of Derby’s £75 million Cavendish Building.

She said: “2025 was an incredible year for the city. It was one of those ‘completion’ years – where all the hard work put in previously came together.

“It was exciting to see so many people being brought back into the city. These things aren’t done by chance – they’re done on purpose. The purpose here was to help revive our high street.”

In recent years, thousands of new homes have been built in the city centre – and in 2025, Derby’s ‘residential revolution’ showed no signs of abating.

At the heart of this continued momentum is Wavensmere Homes, which last year put the finishing touches to its 925-home Nightingale Quarter scheme, on the site of the former Derbyshire Royal Infirmary – and is now making rapid progress on breathing new life into Friar Gate Goods Yard, a site which had previously stood empty for over 60 years..

Nadine said: “Part of the plan of bringing vitality back to the city is to have more people living in the city centre.

“When somewhere like Friar Gate Goods Yard finally gets developed – it’s amazing. The site has been abandoned for so many years. Projects like this re-vitalise and re-energise our city.

“The public-private sector partnership that exists in Derby has enabled this to happen.”

Elsewhere, efforts have been made to introduce more open and green spaces in the city centre – including the Eastern Gateway scheme, a new urban garden and play area, between the bus station and Derbion.

Nadine said: “Part of the plan about greening our city is to stop that ‘concrete jungle’ feel.

“As well as the Eastern Gateway, we’ve been putting new planting and seating all around the city to make it more welcoming – and we are looking to do more with our latest Public Realm Strategy, which is currently out for consultation.”

Nadine was also asked about the efforts that had been put in to improve the external perceptions of Derby and boost its visitor economy after Time Out recently named Derby one of the UK’s top places to visit in 2026.

Nadine said: “Kudos to Visit Derby. They reached out to journalists and invited them to come and see what the city is really like – which has resulted in positive press and rankings such as Time Out.

“I know that Team Derby is positive about our city – but we need everybody to be positive. The visitor economy is so important to all businesses, because it creates secondary spend and footfall.”

She was then asked what was planned for Derby over the coming months and the next few years.

Nadine said: “The most exciting thing I’m looking forward to is the developments in the Market Place – which is really moving on. The plans for the renovated Guildhall are also coming to fruition.

“There also plans at the Station Gateway, which will be more housing, commercial and shopping space – which is also moving at pace.”

Creating new Grade A office space is key to improving the offer of Derby city centre.

Nadine was asked how plans for the Market Place and the continued development at Becketwell could support that aim.

She said: “Office space is another part of the jigsaw in terms of bringing people into the city. We’ve been concentrating on city living and playing – the next stage is working.

“It’s so important to get workers back into the city centre. The Grade A office space at the Market Place is going to be a phenomenal building – and there’s also Grade A office space planned for Becketwell.”

As well as being leader of Derby City Council, Nadine is also deputy mayor of the East Midlands Combined County Authority, which was established in 2024 as part of a devolution deal for Derby, Derbyshire, Nottingham and Nottinghamshire.

During the interview, she was asked how she thought the regional model could help Derby.

She said: “EMCCA is building at pace. Last year was focused on strategies, which are so important to get right. When we’re all working together, we are greater than the sum of our parts – and there’s so much more potential.

“The East Midlands has been ignored for so long when it comes to government funding for the region – but now, through EMCCA, we are getting noticed.

“An example of where this approach can help companies here is business support, which now comes under the EMCCA umbrella and will no longer be a postcode lottery.”

She was also asked how EMCCA can help Derby deliver on its growth plans – and make the most of its key competencies in sectors such as advanced manufacturing and defence.

Nadine said: “It’s not just what EMCCA can do for us – it’s what we can do for EMCCA as well.

“Derby has the most growth potential across the entire region.”

Also, following the publication of EMCCA Inclusive Growth Strategy, which highlights, some of the social mobility challenges that face Derby and the wider region, Nadine was asked how the growth achieved as a city, and a region, can help improve the lives of its people and communities.

Nadine said: “It’s something really close to my heart. I got into politics to make sure that people were put first.

“The strategy launched by EMCCA was an incredible piece of work by the Inclusive Growth Commission – because what is the point of growth if you’re not bringing people along with you?

“There’s an awful lot of people across the region who never have the opportunity for growth and to improve their lives. Inclusive growth aims to make sure the opportunities are there for everyone.”

Nadine was asked about the city’s 50:50 celebrations, which will mark  50 years of twinning with Osnabruck this year –  and 50 years as a city next year.

She said: “I’m very excited about the 50:50 celebrations. I’d like to thank all of our cultural partners who are working really hard with us to celebrate throughout the year.”

And when Nadine was asked what her final message to the ABE audience would be, she replied: “That we can never stop being ambitious for our city. We continue to be passionate about our city. Keep shouting it from the rooftops and keep on innovating and doing the best for the people who live here.”