In another astonishing twist for Ruddington’s Green Belt housing saga, a Government Planning Inspector has once again overruled a planning refusal by Rushcliffe Borough Council (RBC) in favour of the landowner.
The site on ‘Land off Asher Lane’ (formerly known as RUD07 and now as Policy 6.4 in the Rushcliffe Local Plan Part 2) has already been given outline planning approval for 175 new homes with access off Asher Lane. This was when Space Foods Ltd appealed to the Government’s Planning Inspectorate about RBC’s refusal for its proposed development here and was successful. This decision was to the dismay of hundreds of local residents, Ruddington Action Group (RAG) and Ruddington Parish Council – who’d fought long and hard to try to prevent large scale housing here.
The outline plans that were controversially given the green light on that occasion showed access to the new housing development via two points off Asher Lane alongside Rushcliffe Country Park. This was despite a subsequent revision by the land owners suggesting an alternative route in from the north. After the initial application, Space Foods purchased 75, Musters Road {pictured right} with a view to demolishing the property to put a way through there instead. However its formal application to do this was rejected by RBC in October last year on the grounds that: “The development would unacceptably impact on the amenities of the properties immediately adjacent to the site access point and in the wider area along Musters Road and Distillery Street by reason of increased noise and disturbance from vehicle movements associated with the development.”
NOW a second appeal by the landowner over that refusal has also been allowed by a Planning Inspector (following a site visit on April 24th) meaning the alternative access will be granted after all! Developers can now scrap their plans for any access off Asher Lane* and instead make their route through to the site off Musters Road via Distillery Street and Sandhurst Drive – subject to the revised junction layout shown below:
Explaining the appeal decision, Planning Inspector K Stephens BSc (Hons), MTP, MRTPI wrote: “The Travel Assessment indicates there would be a better distribution of traffic flows around the surrounding roads arising from the Musters Road access, compared to the fall-back scheme using the Asher Lane access. With the Musters Road access, vehicular traffic would have more routes to take and would be split 50% at the junction, such that some traffic will travel between Musters Road/Distillery Street and some via Musters Road/Asher Lane/The Green. With the fall-back permission with access off Asher Lane, all traffic would have to pass in front of houses on Asher Lane, and progress along Asher Lane towards the junction of Distillery Street and The Green before exiting the village. The TA concludes on this point by saying that fewer vehicles per hour would pass any individual property along Musters Road/Distillery Street under the current appeal proposal than would be the case under the previous appeal using the Asher Lane access.”
The Inspector adds: “With the implementation of appropriate noise mitigation measures which can be conditioned, there would not be unacceptable harm to the living conditions of the occupiers of No.73 (Musters Road) and No.1 (Western Fields) or to the occupiers of properties in the wider area fronting Musters Road and Distillery Street with regard to noise and disturbance from increased vehicle movements and traffic generation.”
You can see and download the Inspector’s full ‘Appeal Decision’ document >>HERE<<.
Rushcliffe Borough Council’s Cabinet Portfolio Holder for Housing, Cllr Roger Upton, told RUDDINGTON.info: “We are disappointed that the government planning inspector has granted permission for Musters Road access to the site against the wishes of the Parish and Borough Councils and many other local stakeholders. We will continue to ensure appropriate measures are put in place to mitigate the impact on residents.”
This latest news comes ahead of another verdict due imminently from The Planning Inspectorate about the other Green Belt sites in Ruddington which were included in The Rushcliffe Local Plan Part 2. If all three of these are also rubber-stamped that would mean at least 350 further homes being built around our village by 2028 – in addition to the 175 already approved on this farmland south of Musters Road {pictured below}.
*UPDATE 18th JUNE 2019
As expected, the application for access to the site via Asher Lane has now been withdrawn by Tom Collins from town planners Nineteen47 on behalf of landowners Space Foods Ltd. This followed 64 public objections to RBC and no one supporting it. However, most who commented were objecting to any building on the site in principle, rather than to this specific access route.
