Council's 'exciting' £875k creative hub stuck at square one three years on

Why it matters: The plan, approved by councillors in January 2025, promised between 62 and 77 full-time jobs and a home for screen, media and gaming businesses in the town centre. Some 19 months on, the space remains empty and unused, nearly £900,000 of public funding sits unallocated, and neither council can say what happens next – or when.

The details: By January 2025, when the Executive approved the grant, a committee report confirmed a tenant had been identified and heads of terms – the outline agreement setting out a lease's key terms before it is formally signed – had already been agreed.

The council confirmed to this publication that it did not enter into a lease agreement with the intended operator – but they wouldn't share why.

• Because no lease agreement was signed, the £750,000 fit-out grant has not been spent.
• The identity of the proposed tenant has never been made public. The council says this was treated as confidential information as part of its executive decision-making in January 2025.
• The council's own committee report states the grant was transferred from the New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) "on the proviso that all monitoring forms confirming the spend by September 2025 are submitted and approved." Looking through the unit's windows, there is no visible evidence that fit-out work has taken place inside.

For context: The £750,000 formed part of an £875,000 grant awarded to the council in September 2023 by the New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership (NALEP), specifically to deliver a creative hub in Ipswich.

The Creative Hub concept was originally proposed for a Waterfront site, before that location proved not to be viable, and the former Customer Service Centre at the Town Hall was chosen instead.

Since the New Anglia LEP's closure in March 2024, Suffolk County Council has taken over as the accountable body for the funding. The council's own committee report shows that the £875,000 had, by January 2025, already been transferred from SCC to IBC. As no agreement for lease was signed and the grant was never drawn down to a tenant, the money remains with Ipswich Borough Council, unspent, subject to SCC's monitoring conditions and its power to require the funding's return if those conditions are not met.

A spokesperson for Suffolk County Council confirmed:

• No portion of the £875,000 has been returned to Suffolk County Council to date.
• Suffolk County Council agreed an extension to the project's delivery timeframe.
• The two councils "are jointly considering options for the future use of the funding, including projects that could support economic growth and prosperity in Ipswich." No decisions have yet been made.

What's unclear: It is not yet known whether the council has simply not secured a workable tenant, or whether the broader concept of a screen, media and gaming creative hub in Ipswich has been shelved altogether. The council wouldn't comment.

Notably, the council's own committee report identified this exact risk before the grant was approved, warning that "the tenant fails to utilise the grant as agreed" was a possible outcome, and stating that the funding agreement would include clawback provisions to guard against it.

The bottom line: Nearly £900,000 of public funding, set aside nearly three years ago to bring a landmark council building back into use, remains unspent and unallocated, with no timeline for when – or whether – a creative hub will open in Ipswich Town Hall.

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