Council Pledges to Enhance Our Hedgerows

This week, three of Britain’s biggest conservation charities – The National Trust, World Wildlife Fund and RSPB – have announced they’re joining forces to try to halt the destruction of UK nature using Sir David Attenborough’s ‘Save Our Wild Isles’ campaign as their inspiration. Part of this battle is happening very close to home, as Rushcliffe Borough Council (RBC) pledges to improve the hedgerow network in and around Ruddington to protect our local wildlife and help tackle the ‘climate emergency’ it declared in March 2019. The authority says it is now working closely with…

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Dozens More ‘Green Belt’ Houses for Ruddington?

It’s taken almost two years to sell the site, and for developers to put together this full application, but detailed plans have now been submitted to build yet more new homes on former Green Belt land east of Loughborough Road. Chave Planning Ltd has drawn up the Design and Access Statement for land at ‘Croft House’ at 211, Loughborough Road, Ruddington, on behalf of the applicant TH Ruddington Ltd – which is part of national housebuilder Taggart Homes. It’s intended to explain how the site’s ‘environmental constraints and opportunities, the surrounding context, relevant planning policy and outcomes…

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Ruddington Solar Farm Application

Following a public consultation in our village in March 2022, Ridge Clean Energy (RCE) has now submitted a full planning application for its proposed ‘hybrid renewable energy project’ on agricultural land south west of Ruddington. Called ‘Fair Oaks Renewable Energy Park’ the power generation scheme would be located at Fields Farm off Asher Lane and pair 49.9MW of solar panels with 49.9MW of battery storage capacity. That’s said to be enough to supply 11,200 homes with green electricity. The company says the combination of technologies can achieve “efficient, reliable, and stable…

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24 More Green Belt Homes Approved

Over eighteen months after plans were revealed to add further houses to a current Ruddington development, permission to expand it onto additional land which was also previously part of our village Green Belt has been granted by Rushcliffe Borough Council (RBC). Subject to conditions and an additional ‘Section 106’ agreement, two dozen more houses will now be constructed alongside the 185 already being built by William Davis Homes at ‘Lace Fields’ on former agricultural land opposite Mere Way. This is despite only 170 dwellings originally being approved on this site in the Rushcliffe Local Plan…

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Historic Ash Tree Felled by Developer

Ruddington residents overlooking the new Wilbur Chase development south of Musters Road are expressing their dismay that a large, mature tree next to the site has been chopped down today – despite their pleas to save it. The historic Ash tree sat on the boundary of the field owned by village businessman John Hallam and the former green belt agricultural land next to it – upon which Avant Homes is now constructing 175 controversially approved new houses. Retention of this 17 metre tall tree was clearly shown on the developer’s…

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New Year, Longer Market!

As Ruddington Village Market prepares to celebrate its fourth birthday, the team behind it has revealed visitors will have even more time to browse the many stalls in 2023. From February 4th onwards, our monthly market on The Green will open from 9.00am all the way through to 2.00pm – an hour and a half longer than previously. It’s envisaged there will still be around seventy independent stalls on the first Saturday of each month, comprising businesses from the village plus many visiting traders. Additionally, there’s a ‘Charity of the…

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School Expansion News Welcomed

Village families who currently have children attending James Peacock Infant & Nursery School and St Peter’s Junior School are welcoming this week’s announcement that Ruddington’s historically preferred Secondary School will be made over a third larger. Since the building of thousands of new homes began in its catchment area, some residents here have been struggling to get places for their kids at Rushcliffe School in West Bridgford (now rebranded Rushcliffe Spencer Academy). In fact, in recent years, a good number of Ruddington pupils have been split up from lifelong friends to be accommodated…

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Reprieve for Ruddington’s Remaining Green Belt?

A new document which has just been published (January 2023) seems to indicate that further large swathes of Ruddington’s surrounding countryside will not be required for more development within the next 15 years. As part of the ‘Greater Nottingham Strategic Plan: Preferred Approach Consultation’ being undertaken by the Greater Nottinghamshire Planning Partnership (GNPP), Rushcliffe Borough Council (RBC) has not allocated any further Ruddington Green Belt for housing or commercial use within ‘Appendix A: Preferred Sites (Rushcliffe Borough)’ between now and 2038. Instead, the authority’s section of the larger Nottinghamshire consultation focuses on other previously identified…

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Help Shape Ruddington’s Future in 2023

Whilst most residents think Ruddington is still a great place to live, complaints are frequently seen on social media and elsewhere about the significant amount of new house building that’s been permitted in and around our village. Inevitably our growing population is resulting in an increase in local traffic, a lack of public parking, the over-stretching of our existing facilities such as schools and doctors, and a general strain on our fundementally ‘Victorian’ era infrastructure. It’s also having a significant impact on our ‘natural’ environment – as precious former Green Belt land…

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