An application, by Newark & Sherwood District Council, will see nine detached houses built on the disused green space at The Stadium.
A CONTROVERSIAL planning application to build houses on a disused playing field in Newark has been approved.
The application, by Newark & Sherwood District Council, will see nine detached houses – seven five-bedroom properties and two four-bedroom homes – built on the disused green space at The Stadium, on Elm Avenue, and was approved by the council's planning committee on Tuesday.
Councillor Mathew Skinner, Conservative councillor for Beacon ward, said that while he supported the application, he'd still like to see it amended as he'd like the footpaths to be widened.
He said: "I personally regard the field as a disused football field, and the football provision elsewhere in Newark is a credit to the town. There's the new pitch at the YMCA and I take great pride in seeing it being used almost every time I'm at the leisure centre.
"There are also other football facilities in the town, and I think it's important to have quality, not quantity."
The vote result was eight councillors who voted for the proposal and five against.
The proposed application has been met with criticism from many residents of the area. In a bid to save the field, Newark Sports Association organised a gathering of people outside the gates of Elm Avenue last month to show support for their campaign to protect Newark’s green spaces.
Matt Lamb, director of growth and regeneration at the council, said: “The council has planned for the continuing growth of Newark and the need to improve existing open space and provide significant new ones.
“We recognise the right to protest and make views clear. However, the sale of the land at Elm Avenue (which has not been open for use as sports provision for a significant period) for residential development will facilitate and help fund the development of the extensive sporting and recreational facilities being provided at the YMCA Community and Activity Village on Bowbridge Road.
“Furthermore, Sports England, which was a consultee when the Community and Activity Village was considered, said: "There is sufficient additional capacity and facilities on site to conclude that the provision is a suitable and sufficient replacement for the loss of the Elm Avenue Stadium site.”"
The district council has also said that the disposal of the land would lead to enhancements to open spaces elsewhere in Newark, including Newark Sports and Fitness Centre and Newark R&M Cricket Club expansion, as well as 74 hectares of additional open space planned for Middlebeck and a new development, including a country park of between 15 and 20 hectares, on the southern slopes of Beacon Hill.
