Hucknall: Developer chosen and masterplan revealed for Top Wighay site

The masterplan for the development at Top Wighay Farm on the Hucknall and Linby border has been unveiled by Nottinghamshire County Council today (Tuesday 19 April).

It includes outlined planning for 805 houses and a primary school.

There is also business development land as well as land for a purpose built £15.7m Council building which will provide services such as Children's social care and adult social care for the people of Hucknall and the surrounding areas. It has been described as the biggest development project the Council has ever undertaken or invested in.

The Council has also confirmed that it has selected Vistry Partnerships as the developer for the site, a decision which was approved by the Council's Economic Development and Asset Management Committee this afternoon,

Councillor Keith Girling, chairman of the Economic Development and Asset Management committee said: "This is an exciting project. If you live in Hucknall you're going to have the services on your doorstep.

"Hucknall is going to get better footfall which is great for the local economy.

"People are living longer so they're staying in their houses longer and we need to build more houses that's a fact, that's what we've got to do.

"Districts and Boroughs are under pressure to meet their housing need, they have to do a five year plan, we all know that Ashfield have failed to do that because they've put a pretty poor plan in, 3000 houses on greenbelt land, so this in comparison is much better.

"It's a brownfield site which is where we've all been told this is where we should be building so we're utilising the land to the best of our ability.

"Obviously the Council building we're spending a lot of money on that we've built in a lot of contingency so at the moment material prices are fluctuating quite bad but we think we've covered it so it's going to be a maximum amount we're hoping for it to be a lot less.

"The reason we're going down the route of it being so eco-friendly is because that's the thing people want us to be eco-friendly in this County, people are very passionate about it and we're leading by example. It's going to save us about £1.1m a year anyway in terms of looking after it and fuelling it and that can be fed back into the pot to provide services."

The Top Wighay Farm Development. Credit: Nottinghamshire County Council.

There is concern among local residents that these houses would increase the pressure on Hucknall's amenities and that it doesn't have the infrastructure to cope with another development.

Matt Neal, Service Director of Investment and Growth at the Council, moved to allay these concerns.

He said: "We've also put in place infrastructure so there'll be lots of cycling tracks we're linking those into the local cycle network so we're doing all sorts of things to try and make it more sustainable for the people who are going to be living here as well."

It was also confirmed that an extensive transport assessment was carried out, prior to the plans being published which included consulting with local residents and as a result relevant traffic measures have been and will be put in place to accommodate the site. This includes a bus route running through the site and land allocated for a tram line to potentially link up with the proposed development at Whyburn Farm which is in Ashfield District Council's Local Plan that is currently on pause.

Speaking about the choice of developer, Councillor Girling said: "They're a good company (Vistry) with the same ethos as us. They will create an environment that people want to live in."

Mr Neal added that there had been a "rigorous tender process", and that "Vistry partnerships proved through a number of areas that they were the best partner to go with."

It was also confirmed that there will be a percentage of affordable housing on the site, which will equate to just over 17% of the homes built.

Vistry has indicated that the project can be completed within six years of work beginning on the development.