More homes for Hucknall's Rolls-Royce aerodrome site

The total number of homes due to be built on Hucknall's former Rolls-Royce aerodrome site could increase beyond 900 if Ashfield District Council's planning committee approves major changes next week.

Plans to redevelop the former industrial hub were initially put forward in 2013, with the site given planning consent to become a huge housing estate.

Construction has been under way for several years on various phases of the development and hundreds of homes are now occupied.

The area, which was once used to test experimental aircraft, has links to its history with roads named after legendary aircraft like the Hurricane and the Spitfire.

Muse Developments Ltd then put forward plans in 2020 to create the next phase of development, which could see as many as 261 new houses built on the Watnall Road site.

The plans, submitted alongside Rolls-Royce PLC, would take the development above the 900-home threshold initially approved years ago and take the total number of houses allowed on-site to 975.

Now the plans are finally due for a decision by the council's planning committee, with councillors recommended to approve extending the development when they meet on January 19.

Documents published ahead of the meeting state some of the new homes would be built on land previously earmarked for employment space, with about 4.12 hectares of land to be lost on the nearby Harrier Park estate.

But additional land will instead be incorporated into the development at a separate location, compensating about 0.89 hectares of alternative employment space.

Ashfield District Council will seek additional section 106 contributions from the developer to account for the lost space and the additional housing on-site.

This includes £275,147 towards primary education, which will provide 16 places at the new-build Hucknall Flying High Academy site.

The school, which was approved as part of the 2013 application, must extend to accommodate 75 additional homes, the documents add.

They state: "The new primary school and site will need to expand to accommodate the additional pupils arising from the proposed increase in dwellings.

"The county council is seeking to secure a site and contribution to enable this expansion."

A further £286,500 will be requested towards secondary education, funding the 12 school places expected to be needed by the extra 75 homes.

Developers must also provide £150,000 to the Rolls-Royce Heritage Trust, and £195,513 towards healthcare provision in the Hucknall area.

This comes after the NHS Clinical Commissioning Group viewed local surgeries as not being "capable of accommodating the associated increase in population".

The council will also request that 18.5 per cent of the 261 homes proposed in the extension be marketed as 'affordable'. This equates to roughly 18 houses.

The report also mentions Ashfield District Council's current inability to meet its five-year housing land supply.

This "significant ongoing housing shortfall", the documents state, "attracts substantial weight in favour of granting planning permission for the proposal".

The application going before councillors next week is in outline form, with issues of scale, appearance and access to be addressed at a later stage.