Neighbourhood Plan gets go ahead
In the recent Calverton Neighbourhood Plan referendum 1430 residents voted “YES” whilst there were 80 who voted “NO”, a majority of 1350 or 94.75%.
The result means, amongst other things, that local opinion about planning and the nature of development will require additional consideration and more of the money (Community Infrastructure Levy – CIL) paid by developers for building in the village will be available to fund local amenities.
The Neighbourhood Plan is now ready to be adopted. The term for the formal adoption of a Neighbourhood Plan is the ‘making’ of a plan – an adopted plan is said to be ‘made’. It is the responsibility of GBC to ‘make’ the plan and there is a statutory requirement that this should be done within 8 weeks of the referendum. Apparently the intention of Gedling Borough Council was to formally ‘make’ the Calverton Neighbourhood Plan by the end of January. Since the positive referendum result, the Neighbourhood Plan has had to be given full weight by GBC in all relevant planning decision-making processes.
Objections raised to Flatts Lane housing allocation
Representations were made by Calverton Parish Council at the latest round of Hearings into Gedling’s emerging Local Planning Document (LDP) a few weeks ago concerning the lack of conformity between GBC’s Plan and the Neighbourhood Plan in a couple of key areas. Objections were made to GBC’s recently proposed Flatts Lane housing allocation, which GBC propose should be delivered within 5 years of their LPD plan being adopted. The Inspector’s Report on Gedling’s Local Planning Document is now awaited when it will be possible to find out whether any of these objections to Gedling’s emerging development plan have been given enough weight for modifications to that plan to be proposed.
History fans turn out in numbers for Society talk
There was a really good attendance for the latest Pres event which outlined some of the history of the area around Calverton, with Chris P commenting on the slides shown by Malcolm H. The talk began with prehistoric burial barrows, only a few miles away from the village, dating back more than 5000 years ago, before even Stonehenge was built! Various local Iron Age sites were mentioned including the recovery of a gold coin from the period. Similarly a couple of coin hoards from the Roman period were uncovered about 60 years ago, one when the Manor Park School Hall was built and the other when the foundations for the Vicarage on Crookdole Lane were being excavated. Following the Roman times there is evidence of Anglo-Saxon settlement, indeed it is probable that this was when Calverton (the farm with cattle) was first established on the present site rather than groups of people living on nearby hill tops for defensive reasons.
It was at this time that St. Wilfrid visited the area using Burnor Pool to baptise the first Christians and establishing what was probably a wooden-built Church followed by one of stone by the Norman times. Calverton was actually mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 as having a church.
By medieval times Calverton was within the Royal Forest of Sherwood and the village was one of 5 places where Forest Courts were held hearing cases such as trespass, poaching and stray animals. During the later Medieval period it is though one of the Kings actually stopped in the area to water his horses and test the medicinal properties of Keenwell (King’s Well) now located along Dark Lane.
Mention was also made during the talk of William Lee, son of the vicar at the time, who in 1589 invented the Framework Knitting machine which became the basis of the world-wide hosiery industry. Even today’s computer-controlled machines are based on Lee’s invention!
About 200 years later Johnny Roe lived in the village and formed a unique religious sect, some of whose followers spent many years in Nottingham prison for failing the follow Church principles.
The talk ended with events in the village during Victorian times.
John G thanked Chris and Malcolm for an interesting talk and then members of the audience were given the opportunity to look at a number of items brought from the Calverton Folk Museum.
In Brief
The planning application submitted to GBC for indoor entertainment at Oscar’s has been given conditional permission.
Amongst the latest planning applications submitted to GBC is permission to retain an existing temporary classroom at St. Wilfrid’s School, Main Street
The Calverton Garden & Heritage Trail, organised by the Pres Soc, is due to take place again this year, probably on a Sunday towards the end of June. If anyone would like to open their garden, large or small, please contact Chris Peck (965 4843) for further details.
The Pres has receive a request regarding the coming of the Black Death (1348/9) to towns and villages in Nottinghamshire. Please get in touch if you have any information.
The next Pres event is a talk by David Mooney “Folklore and Custom in the East Midlands” on Wed March 21st. watch for further details later.
- For more information, contact: Chris Peck, Secretary, Calverton Preservation & History Society, 0115 9654843 or pressoc@ntlworld.com
- This column is also published in the February edition of the Village Gazette – a local magazine for Calverton
