Thanks, carterusm. I'm going to wait until I know I'll still be in time to register for Chester myself. If they haven't got their act together by then, I'll go for Chester.
Sent an email through Facebook asking for clarification about why the route is still not known. They did not say why but said they're working hard and confirmed the Nottingham Marathon is going to take place.
It seems a bit of a poor strategy indeed. I'd have already entered if they had got their act together and I suppose they are going to miss many runners in the same position. Also-ran, thank you for your edit. I'll go on fb and try to get some answers too but will probably also enter Chester just in case. It's just that the week before suited me much better but as far as I know there is only Nottingham on 29th.