Newark and Sherwood District Council accept lower off from development company Arkwood Developments Ltd for sale of Lowfield Lane, Balderton

District councillors have accepted a lower price for the sale of a controversial green space site where 142 homes are planned.

Newark and Sherwood District Council’s planning committee approved a planning application by its own development company, Arkwood Developments Ltd, to develop Lowfields in Balderton.

The plans have been the subject of ongoing protest by residents opposed to development of the green space and wildlife habitat. They described to decision to accept a lower price for the land as reprehensible.

The council agreed to the exclusive disposal of land to Arkwood for £4.4m in January 2022. But at a cabinet meeting last week, members were asked to consider agreeing revised terms for the disposal of the land and a revised sale price.

The item was discussed in secret and the new figure was not revealed,. The council says the price will be revealed when the sale is complete.

Arkwood asked for the reduced price because of the changes it has had to make to the application and its cost implications - more detailed ecological work on the site and a significant reduction in developable land to protect habitat - and rising cost of materials.

In what was described by John Robinson at the meeting as challenging for both the council and Arkwood, and a difficult and sensitive subject for residents, he said the offer represented “value for taxpayers money”.

“It’s really important that we consider this as a property transaction and that a proposed sale of land represents the best interests of the council and best value for tax payers, not the rights and wrongs of the scheme,” he said.

“There have been lots of different views and opinions but it’s really important that you put that to one side.

“The officers recommendation is very clear — we’re confident that Arkwood’s new offer represents the best value, not only because of the cash offer but the other benefits that come off the back of the relationship with Arkwood.

“It’s taken a long time to get here and it’s been difficult, but from my point of view, it’s a relatively straightforward decision.”

The members unanimously agreed to accept the revised deal.

Two other independent valuations of the land were commissioned and both were said to be less than Arkwood’s offer, although these prices were also not revealed at the meeting.

Other options were that the council could refuse the revised offer and request Arkwood to complete the sale on the original terms, or seek to negotiate a higher sale value — neither of which were considered realistic.

Des Kay, spokesman for campaign group OWL, said: “Sadly, this is further proof of the lack of accountability and democracy shown by our council.

“This has led to the loss of significant local biodiversity and trust of the very people now having to pay for this tragic episode.”

Balderton councillor Johno Lee submitted a bid to ‘call in’ the cabinet’s decision and have it reviewed and scrutinised.

However, this was rejected by the council as invalid because it did not meet the required criteria.

A Newark and Sherwood District Council spokesperson said: “Councillors can ask for a Cabinet decision to be reviewed and scrutinised; this is a procedure called a ‘call-in’. For a call-in request to be valid, it must meet certain criteria including the provision of sufficient information. In this instance, the call-in received was determined to be invalid.”

Mr Lee said that he was disappointed with the decision but not entirely surprised and that it was a long shot.