Newark and Sherwood District Council leader and planning committee chairman defend decision to approve plans to build 142 homes on green space at Lowfield Lane, Balderton
A council has defended its decision to approve plans to build over 140 homes on an area of green space despite widespread opposition from residents.
The land was originally allocated for housing development back in 2013 and in recent years has been the subject of ongoing protest by Balderton residents who are opposed to development of the green space a wildlife habitat.
Defending the council’s decision to approve the plans, planning committee chairman, Andy Freeman, said that is was not an easy decision for members to make.
He said: “We heard from some concerned residents and hearing them speak was thought-provoking, I would personally like to thank them all for attending.
“The debate was in depth, as it should be for something so important, and a decision was reached. In fact, planning officers don’t remember an item being debated for so long so I would like to reiterate how difficult it was to balance policy against such an emotive topic locally.”
He continued: “If permission is to be refused this must be for material planning reasons.
“Failure to apply this properly will result in the application being referred to the Secretary of State who, if there are no material reasons, could overturn our decision, discrediting our judgement and advice and implementing the application as submitted.
“In approving the plans, we were able to add appropriate conditions to the application, which would not be guaranteed if it had been declined and referred for consideration by the Secretary of State.
“I appreciate that this was an extremely difficult application to consider given the incredible amount of public interest, but we made a robust decision in accordance with the local plan and applied the policies in the way we thought it right to do so.
“That is what the planning committee are there to do, however emotionally challenging that can be.”
Mr Freeman thanked members of the planning committee for their contributions during the debate.
Council leader, Paul Peacock, said: “The district council receives multiple planning applications each year. Planning committee members take into account all the relevant material considerations of every single planning application to make their decision.
“This planning application was dealt with in the same way as all the others to make a fair and informed decision.
“We understand that decisions must be made and that these may not always be popular with every single resident we serve.
“In relation to this specific site, the plans were significantly adapted to ensure ecology and quality homes were at its heart and the committee clearly felt this planning application was right for approval.”
He added: “The district council has a responsibility to allocate land for housing based on direction from government and national housing targets.
“The build of these 142 homes will go some considerable way to help us meet our housing target and tackle the housing crisis facing the UK head on.
“It is our vision that we must learn to build new homes that better co-exist with nature, and I feel that these plans meet that.
“The plans for this site really are inspirational and really do set themselves apart from other local developments and I hope they pave the way for other developers when considering how we can create a future where new home building and ecology co-exist.”
Mr Peacock stated Arkwood had taken on board public feedback and reduced the number of houses and that steps had been taken to ecologically protect around 33%.
New plants, hedgerows and willow trees have been added, and open surface water drainage solutions will be installed, along with log pile habitats, a large surface water retention pond with further planting, bee bricks, bat boxes and a variety of nest boxes for different birds.
The plans also support the council’s own aspirations to meet net zero targets with solar panels and electric vehicle charging points being installed.
