Jon Collins became a Nottingham City councillor in 1987. Ever since, he’s been involved in developing and implementing policy around investment and regeneration, transport and strategic planning, property sales and management, economic development, housing and education.
As Leader of Nottingham City Council for sixteen years from 2003 he was behind ambitious plans to create a cleaner and safer city, to expand the city’s tram network, to regenerate the city centre, to identify and support key economic sectors, to improve environmental performance and to build innovative public-private partnerships.
He understands how local government works and how decisions are made.
He knows what makes partnerships work and how they can deliver success.
Jon has been a board member of the D2N2 Local Enterprise Partnership, the Midlands Engine and Midlands Connect.
He chaired the Nottinghamshire Police Authority and the East Midlands HS2 Programme Board. He was vice-chair of the UK Core Cities Group.
In all these roles Jon has worked closely with private sector companies and executives.
Jon set up Jon Collins Consulting Ltd to share his knowledge and experience, to make connections and to build bridges between the public and private sectors, to open doors, inform decisions and help clients to save time and money.
Because by working together we can make things better.
Jon Collins has been involved with development projects and regeneration initiatives that have made a difference at community, city, conurbation and regional level. Jon Collins Consulting Ltd’s advice and experience can help make your project a success.
Line one of the Nottingham Express Transit tram system opened shortly after Jon became Leader of the City Council. As well as making getting around the city easier, it created employment opportunities and development possibilities in the centre and north of the city and quickly cemented Nottingham’s reputation as a public transport pioneer.
Building on that success, Jon led the bid for the second and third tram lines that opened in 2015, bringing the same benefits to the south and west of Nottingham.
When Jon became chair of the East Midlands HS2 Programme Board there was little local agreement on the route the eastern leg of HS2 should take through the region, nor the best location for the East Midlands Hub station. Jon forged a consensus on these issues and helped to develop a clear vision for the station and surrounding developments.
BioCity isNottingham’s nationally significant bio-science incubator, creating and supporting businesses and high-value jobs in this high growth sector.
Jon’s support helped BioCity to expand and to grow with the City Council funded construction of the Discovery building that provided an additional 50,000 sq ft of office and laboratory space.
Jon promoted and helped secure the council’s purchase of the Homes and Communities Agency’s 50% share of Blueprint and ensured the forward funding of land assembly and early development costs that enabled Trent Basin, a prime riverside site that had remained undeveloped for over 20 years, to be transformed into a new, sustainable neighbourhood for Nottingham. Jon went on to serve as a Blueprint board member for three years.
The historic Old Market Square at the heart of Nottingham is one of the city’s landmarks. Jon led its overdue redevelopment, creating a large, open public amenity and thriving events space that has made the square once again the focus of city life.
Nottingham Contemporary is an internationally recognised gallery and arts centre that opened in 2009. Over two million people have been welcomed to more than fifty exhibitions. As Council Leader, Jon supported the development and the council’s capital contribution to the construction cost, creating a major new attraction for visitors and local residents to enjoy.
The St Ann’s Valley Centre is a community hub that’s home to city council and NHS services, GP clinics and Nottingham City Homes. As Council Leader Jon was responsible for agreeing the council’s support for the scheme and its application for government funding. As a local ward councillor he advocated and built support for the project amongst the communities of St Ann’s.
Jon designed and led personally for five years the multi-partner Respect 4 Nottingham campaign that tackled crime, anti-social behaviour and street cleanliness issues head on.
The campaign was a success and by 2009 Nottingham had become the UK’s cleanest big city, crime had halved and anti-social behaviour was down by a third.
If you would like to talk about how we might help you to move your project forward, please get in touch.