Hundreds of homes could soon be built in leafy and rural areas across Gedling borough – and residents can have their say.
Gedling Borough Council passed through its evolving draft local development plan on Wednesday, June 10, which will now be sent off for examination by the government.
The plan has outlined areas that could be used for thousands of properties.
All local authorities responsible for providing housing, or land for housing, use something called the ‘standard method’ for calculating the need in their areas.
With extra pressure on authorities from the Labour Government to boost housing targets, this number for Gedling is 638 homes per year – a total of 11,484 new homes needed over its local development plan period to 2043.
With existing housing allocations in the borough and various housing developments either currently under construction or with planning permission, this large number drops down to 6,045 new homes needed by 2043.
To achieve this, the authority has been working to find suitable land where these several thousand homes could be built and has now narrowed the areas down, with a particular focus on as many homes as possible being part of Nottingham’s urban sprawl.
But some allocations are bigger than others, and could result in rural villages and parts of towns growing by several hundred homes.
Residents are invited to have their say during a six-week consultation period from June 22 to August 3.
The parts of the borough with the largest proposed housing allocations are:
- Land south of Lime Lane, near Dorket Head and Red Hill – 925 homes
- Top Wighay Farm site near Hucknall and Linby – 880 more homes added to the existing development under construction
- Silverland Farm on Ricket Lane, Ravenshead – 750 homes
- Mapperley Golf Course – 750 homes
- Mapperley Plains East – 650 homes
- Teal Close extension, near Stoke Bardolph – adding 500 homes to the existing development under construction
- Park Road, Calverton – 500 homes added to the existing development that is under construction
Other smaller allocations include:
- New Farm, Mansfield Road, Redhill – 375 homes
- Westhouse Farm, Bestwood Village extension – 300 homes added to the existing development that is under construction
- Mansfield Lane, Calverton – 170 homes added to the existing planning permission for the area
- Willow Farm extension – adding 140 homes to the existing development that is under construction
- The former Sherwood Academy, Gedling – 125 homes
- Kighill Lane, Ravenshead – 120 homes added to the existing allocation
- Land west of Nottingham Road, Ravenshead – 50 homes
Concerns have already been brewing over certain sites being used for housing, where existing flooding, parking and infrastructure problems mean some residents fear their areas will not ‘cope’ with an influx of people and cars.
Councillor Jane Allen (Con) said Calverton was at “just about saturation point” and there was “awful strain on [the] village” with parking issues, traffic congestion, long GP waits and flood risks.
She also felt like “an accident is waiting to happen” in the congested car parks in the centre and that her village was ‘losing its character’.
Regarding Mapperley Golf Club and the former Gedling School site, Councillor Andrew Ellwood (Lib Dem) said “we’re not talking about the loss of a couple of fields of turnips and cabbages, but vital leisure and recreational facilities” and called for part of the school site’s land to be retained for community use.
One resident, Nigel Woolley, asked the council in Wednesday’s meeting: “Why do the council think it is a good idea to build houses on Mapperley golf club site given the cost of mitigating flood risk, which was apparently a significant factor [in scrapped plans] in 2011 when this was last considered? Explain now why this is viable?”
Councillor Roy Allan (Lab) reiterated that the developing plan was based on a “settlement hierarchy”, where as much as possible is aimed to be near the main and built-up Nottingham area, where detailed assessments of the golf club site were not available in the past.
Cllr Allan stated the proposals would mean the borough would “still have 74 per cent greenbelt land”.
Cllr Andy Meads (Ind) said: “Anyone that uses Carlton Hill, Mapperley Top, Daybrook Square, Redhill island, the roads around Bestwood, Papplewick, Linby, Large Farm traffic lights, in the morning knows how congested these roads are now and this plan means an extra [potential] 15,000 cars on the road every morning.”
According to Cllr Kyle Robinson-Payne (Lab), he has spoken with multiple residents, particularly young families, who say they want to stay in Gedling but there “isn’t enough housing”.
He added the draft development plan is protecting residents from “speculative developments”, as it informs housebuilders where they can build and stops them proposing sites that are not suitable.
He urged residents and councillors to “please bring forward” any extra evidence they have that Mapperley Golf Club is not suitable for housing.
You can have your say here: https://gedling.inconsult.uk/system/home
