Angry residents from a Gedling community say they will fiercely fight plans to build new homes on their doorstep.
Gedling Borough Council are proposing to use land at Willow Farm to build 110 homes – as outlined in their Gedling Borough Local Planning Document.
But residents have now come together to form The Willow Farm Action Group to fight proposals.
A large number of objections to this proposal were submitted during the Gedling Borough Council’s period of consultation, which ran last summer, including a petition signed by 121 local residents and an objection raised by the local Willow Farm Primary School.
But despite strong opposition, the group say the council have left their plans for this site unaltered and have submitted the Local Planning Document 2016 to an Independent Planning Inspector for assessment.
A spokesman for the group told Gedling Eye: “The Willow Farm green belt land has been owned by a local building firm for many years and our Group believe that their ownership of the land is a clear indication of the industry’s view that if you purchase green belt land and wait long enough, this land will be surrendered for house building by local planning authorities.
“We are motivated by a strong desire to preserve our Green Belt and to speak up for a community who have overwhelmingly, in a Gedling Borough Council opinion survey published in 2014, expressed the need to protect this vital part of our landscape’”
The action group has now also contacted Sajid Javid, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government after comments he made recently about the need to protect green belt land in communities.
Gedling Borough Council today told Gedling Eye that they plan to listen to the concerns of local residents at a number of hearing sessions they will be hold in the New Year.
A council spokesperson said: “The borough has a challenging housing target of 7,250 new homes to deliver by 2028 and this cannot be delivered without the use of greenbelt sites.
“We have gone through a rigorous site selection process to identify sites, including the Willow Farm site.
“The concerns raised by residents about Willow Farm during the consultation stage earlier in the year have been carefully considered. All comments received have been passed to the Planning Inspector who is now examining the Local Planning Document.
“As part of this process, hearing sessions will take place in the New Year. This process will allow for people to voice any issues or concerns they have to an independent Inspector who will then decide if the plan should be adopted.
