3,000 homes to be dropped from Ashfield housing plan - but 1,000 homes in Sutton remain on the cards

Councillors have approved the major change in direction for Ashfield Council’s local plan document.

It follows widespread concern over the development’s impact on wildlife and infrastructure near the Whyburn Farm site.

The plans were first revealed this time last year as the Ashfield Independent administration put forward its housing vision for the next 15 years.

The document included several proposed sites where a total of 8,226 houses would be built between now and 2038, as set out by Government housing calculation methods.

But people nearby strongly opposed the inclusion of the Whyburn Farm settlement, rallying to create an almost 8,000-name petition opposing it and submitting hundreds of objections during a public consultation.

It led to Coun Jason Zadrozny, council leader, planning to drop the settlement from his housing plan.

Now the authority has moved forward with a plan to reduce the number of homes within the plan to about 5,000 and remove development on the greenbelt.

This option, accepted by the local plan development panel at its latest meeting, involves removing Whyburn Farm altogether in a bid to ‘call the Government’s bluff’ on potential changes to national housing policy.

It follows remarks made by Prime Minister Liz Truss during summer hustings events where she described housing target calculations as “Stalinist” and indicated more planning powers could be given to local leaders.

These comments came after former Prime Minister Boris Johnson and former housing secretary Michael Gove made similar remarks, leading to the council pausing the local plan process earlier this year.

However, controversial plans for 1,000 homes off Cauldwell Road, Sutton – which campaigners say will ‘obliterate the area’ – remain on the cards.

Members of the local plan panel had four options on the table, with two including continuing with the pause or submitting the local plan as it is for inspection.

The third option was the removal of parts of the plan in response to Government comments, while the fourth proposed a ‘complete rethink’ of the plan.

Councillors voted in favour of the third option, with the recommendation to now be taken forward for approval by cabinet members on Tuesday, September 27.

It means the authority will now launch a second round of public consultation on the same plan, but without Whyburn Farm, with the results going directly to the Government for the plan to be assessed by inspectors.

This option will also highlight the employment elements of Ashfield’s local plan, including new space for jobs on the M1 corridor, near Junction 27 at Annesley

And it will draw on “special circumstances” for allowing the 8,226-home housing target not to be met, by outlining how the district only being able to build 1,100 homes on brownfield sites without “encroaching” on the greenbelt.

Coun Zadrozny told the panel meeting: “This is the only option that proves the council is listening and is trying to do its best, and it makes a very clear case for the constraints the council finds itself in.”