Developer using Ashfield District Council’s lack of local plan to push through 137-home greenbelt plans in Selston

A developer is using Ashfield District Council's lack of an adopted housing plan to push through 137 homes on greenbelt land.

Peveril Homes Ltd has submitted the plans with the homes earmarked for land off Park Lane, Selston, along the eastern boundary of the M1 motorway.

The company says that, because the authority has not adopted a local plan and has failed to meet its five-year housing supply, the plans should be passed on "very special circumstances".

It comes after the authority pressed forward with plans to remove two major settlements from the draft future housing plan for the area and take out 4,000 homes from its 15-year strategy.

Both the 1,000-home Cauldwell Road settlement, in Sutton, and the 3,000-home plan at Whyburn Farm on Hucknall's greenbelt, will likely not be taken forward in the major housing document.

Now the developer wants to push into Selston's greenbelt by creating the 137-home development in separate countryside.

The development would provide 24 two-bedroom homes, 52 three-bedroom properties and a further 61 four-bedroom houses.

Ten per cent of the properties would be marketed as 'affordable', documents reveal, including 12 two-bed houses and two three-bed homes.

It would include a mix of terraced, detached and semi-detached homes and the development would be accessed from a single entry point off Park Lane.

But despite being on protected land, the developer says the council's difficulties agreeing on its long-term housing strategy opens the door for its plans.

The council also needs to prove it knows where houses will be built over the next five years – known as a five-year housing supply – but so far can only provide this for slightly more than two years' worth of homes.

It leaves a deficit of 1,535 homes that have not been provided in longer-term planning and the developer thinks this means its plans should be given special weight.

In documents, the developer said: "There is little prospect that this position will improve over the next two or three years pending the consultation, examination and adoption of a new local plan.

"The application site is in a sustainable location. It is available and deliverable.

"This represents a very special circumstance which carries substantial weight."

It added: "As some 41 per cent of the district lies within the greenbelt and there is a [lack] of brownfield sites within the urban areas, greenbelt approvals are inevitable if sustainable patterns of development are to ensue."

Concerns have been raised by some Selston residents that the new plans could impact their area.

In an objection on the council's planning portal, Daniel Doherty said: "The land is greenbelt, therefore to even consider building houses on it is utterly disgusting.

"There are numerous wildlife species in the fields and trees. Selston is already congested in numerous ways, the schools are full, [we've] got one GP surgery and that can't cope with the number of patients it has already."

The authority's planning committee will have the final say on approving the plans at a later date.

The application comes as major changes to the council's housing plan are being discussed.

Councillors voted to remove both the two largest settlements from the document on Tuesday (November 15).

It means the authority will look to submit a 15-year plan that fails to meet the 8,226-home target set out through Government housing calculations.

It was described in the meeting as "risky", with no local authority ever finding success by challenging housing targets in this way.

If it does not pay off, the Government's Planning Inspectorate could force the initial draft local plan – including both settlements – to be delivered in full.

The longer it takes for councils to adopt a local plan, the greater the risk of developers putting forward plans not backed by councillors or communities.

It also makes it easier for developers to appeal decisions taken by local planners and have developments approved by Government inspectors.

Christine Sarris, assistant director for planning, said in Tuesday's meeting: "[Having a plan] provides certainty during that period to guide development. That's the really critical aspect in the shorter to medium term."