Rushcliffe Borough Council says it’s received revised plans this week to build 175 new dwellings on Ruddington’s greenbelt north of Asher Lane. These have again been lodged by land owners Space Foods Ltd.
It follows their first application just over two years ago for 250 houses on the same site. At that time a public meeting was held by Ruddington Parish Council who pro-actively supported villagers with objections to building there. Ruddington Action Group was also formed to lobby against it. On that occasion 903 comments were received – with 896 people objecting to the proposal and only one person supporting it. In January last year this original planning application was withdrawn before it could be considered by Rushcliffe Borough Council for reasons which were not made public. There’s speculation it was to sort out land ownership issues to access the site or possibly just due to the weight of local opinion against it.
The latest outline proposals cover exactly the same area but with a reduced density of homes and suggestions to better facilitate vehicle movement and access (see map).
ALL the documents relating to this application can be found >>HERE<<.
Proposals include putting new traffic lights at the junction of High Street and Kirk Lane. Ruddington residents and businesses are being encouraged to make their views known as soon as possible. Perkins Hardware tweeted: “Traffic lights proposed for Kirk Lane/High St/Charles St junction. Not good for the High Street’s shops.”
Another local action group, Protect Ruddington, who’ve previously campaigned against greenbelt housing to the north of our village, are also against these plans. You can read why >>HERE<<.
There will also be another opportunity for residents to share their thoughts with Ruddington Parish Council at a special extra meeting being held in St Peter’s Rooms on Tuesday January the 24th at 7.30pm (doors open 7.00pm). If you are unsure how to comment then further information will be available at that meeting to help you.
However objecting in principle to the building of upto 250 new homes on the greenbelt by 2028 is unlikely to be considered valid since that is Ruddington’s allocation as dictated by the 2014 Rushcliffe Strategic Plan. The issue now is to find the best location(s) in and around our village to put them all. In fact a second consultation relating to this plan was held in 2016 asking villagers where WE thought any greenbelt housing should go – with Asher Lane listed among the potential sites. The results and conclusions from that consultation have yet to be published.
As Asher Lane does not form a major village gateway developers argue that this would be one of the least visually damaging sites to accommodate many of those new properties. It would also fill in an area between existing housing and our Country Park without expanding the village boundary. And Ruddington fitness instructor Ryan Charlesworth commented on Facebook “…does more houses and people not mean more business for local companies? Yes it puts more strain on services but we are not a small village any more and things like this gives more people more opportunities to better themselves. I’m for progress and if we manage the developments well it can be a good thing for the village long term.”
However many Ruddingtonians have already taken to social media to voice strong objections to the revised Asher Lane plans. You can read some of their comments on our Ruddington Facebook Page >>HERE<<.
But you’re reminded that the only way that your comments will count is if you make them directly to Rushcliffe Borough Council planners by post or via their website >>HERE<<. The public consultation began today and is set to continue until Wednesday the 1st of February 2017.
