New Development Design Consultation Continues

Following its launch at the start of this year, Rushcliffe Borough Council (RBC) is continuing to prepare a new ‘Design Code’ to set out quality and standard rules for new developments. Now the authority is inviting residents, local interest groups, design professionals and developers to have our say on the next stage of the process. Since Ruddington’s precious green spaces have taken a significant hammering over the past few years – as a result of infill housing within our village, plus the ‘Rushcliffe Local Plan Part 2’ and its wider development consequences on…

‘Have Your Say’ on New Development Design

Ruddington’s green spaces have seen significant shrinkage over the past few years as a result of infill housing within our village and, most recently, because of the ‘Rushcliffe Local Plan Part 2’. Not only was planning permission granted by Rushcliffe Borough Council (RBC) in 2020 for hundreds of new homes on four large areas of our village’s former Green Belt, developers are also continuing to benefit from ‘windfall’ land which wasn’t originally included but had its ‘protected’ status removed at the same time. So far this has allowed a significant…

Green Flags Galore for Ruddington!

It’s been revealed that TWO local green spaces popular with village visitors and Ruddington walkers are in receipt of prestigious Green Flag Awards this year. Firstly, Rushcliffe Country Park has received its 17th consecutive Green Flag Award, once again acknowledging it as one of the country’s best parks. Ruddington’s popular green space is among 2,216 places in the UK receiving the 2023/24 award. Rushcliffe Borough Council’s Cabinet Portfolio Holder for Transformation, Leisure and Wellbeing, Cllr Jonathan Wheeler, joined the Friends of Rushcliffe Country Park volunteer group and Council representatives (pictured top) in…

Housebuilder’s Boost for Birdlife?

Ever since the the Rushcliffe Local Plan Part 2 was approved – giving developers the green light to build hundreds of new houses on large areas of Ruddington’s Green Belt – villagers have been complaining about the destruction of natural habitats and the loss of green space. Whilst undoubtedly this is true – and those four large new estates have consumed precious areas of agricultural land we’ll never get back – Gordon Dyne of Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust (NWT) has learned about one positive outcome… As part of the planning application…

Ruddington School Places Crisis Deepens

Just over a week ago, when Nottinghamshire County Council proudly announced that 96.3% of Nottinghamshire children had been offered their parents’ first preference school for a reception place in September 2023, that statistic simply didn’t ring true for many families here in Ruddington. A parents’ petition to the County Council has now been started. See the update below*. Since then, we’ve been made aware of at least nine village children not securing the expected place to begin their education at James Peacock School in Manor Park. That’s despite five of these…

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…

‘Offer Day’ Dismay For New Ruddington Families

Just over a week ago it was National Secondary School ‘Offer Day’ – when the parents and guardians of all current Year 6 children in Ruddington were informed by Nottinghamshire County Council (NCC) whether (or not) they had been successful in getting their son or daughter a place at their first choice secondary school. It brought good news for our longer term village residents whose children are pupils in their final year at St Peter’s Junior School and had applied to go to Rushcliffe Spencer Academy (formerly Rushcliffe School) – Ruddington’s usual ‘feeder…

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…

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…

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…