PROFILE Radcliffe on Trent 1

Introduction

What’s this profile all about?

Rushcliffe Borough is well known for its attractive towns and villages, rich farmland and rolling countryside. It is perceived to be an affluent area and one in which people want to live and work. Despite the economic downturn, these pressures for growth in will continue both in the short and longer term.

Looking at the towns and villages which make up Rushcliffe in greater detail, however, it is clear that each is very different, with diverse communities, different pressures, needs and ambitions for their local area.

The production of this Parish Profile is designed to provide a picture of what has happened within a village or town during recent years and to identify what may happen in the future. The profile has been put together in order to provide support for the Borough Council’s Fresh Approach campaign. It is hoped that the profiles will bring out some of the key issues in relation to your village, and will provide a starting point to have discussions on future development in your village.

The profile pulls together many sources of information, including statistics from the village showing what has happened in recent years and what may happen in the future if trends continue.

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The leaflet also provides a brief summary of what people have told us about in response to previous consultations carried out by the Council regarding development in the Borough. This information is grouped into topics including age, the environment, employment, education and the local economy. Obviously, what some people have said may not necessarily be supported by everyone.

Localism – what does this mean for future planning within the Borough?

The Borough Council is required to develop sound long-term plans for the future development of Rushcliffe. These plans still have to be supported by sound factual evidence, however, we now have more scope to develop plans that are truly local to the needs of Rushcliffe.

Local communities will also have a chance to develop their own community-led plan should they wish to do so once Rushcliffe’s development plan is in place. It is, therefore, important that Rushcliffe’s plans for the development of the Borough broadly reflect each community’s needs and wishes.

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Radcliffe on Trent as a place

General

Radcliffe on Trent is a large village located 5 miles to the east of . The village largely serves as a dormitory settlement for . The village has grown steadily along the main roads since the 19th century, however major growth predominantly occurred within the 1950s and 1960s when housing estates were built. The historic centre of the village is to the west of the existing shopping area and is centred around the Parish church.

Radcliffe is a service centre for some of the surrounding settlements, providing schooling, local shops, health facilities and recreational activities. Its role as a main village is affected by its proximity to both Nottingham and to a lesser extent Bingham.

The majority of is within the Parish of Radcliffe, and has its own separate identity. Upper Saxondale was developed on the site of the former hospital in the mid to late 1990s.

Facilities and Economy

Radcliffe on Trent has a number of well supported local facilities, including an active village hall, several play areas, outdoor sports facilities and allotments. There is also a health centre within the village, although this may have capacity issues. There is also a small shopping centre which contains two small

4 supermarkets. The secondary school has significant spare capacity, however the primary schools do not have capacity at present to accommodate further pupils.

Radcliffe on Trent does not have the level of employment opportunities you would normally expect in a village of its size. A significant proportion of the working population commutes to Nottingham.

What You Told Us

There is the need for a more comprehensive building for medical services. The current Health Centre has a one month waiting list.

A radical rethink of car parking facilities would be needed if population is to increase.

People in Radcliffe on Trent don’t want to work locally but will use the facilities

The junior schools are too small for housing growth.

Road connections

Radcliffe on Trent lies on the A52 trunk road, which is a major commuter route. The road suffers from

5 congestion during daylight hours, in particular along the single carriageway section. There have long been ambitions to upgrade the A52 and provide a by pass around Radcliffe. Whilst a number of studies have been undertaken, there have been no firm proposals drawn up to upgrade the route and no prospects of funding in the short to medium term.

Public Transport

Radcliffe on Trent is served by a frequent bus service to Nottingham and Bingham. There are a number of infrequent services that run to Newark, Upper Saxondale and . Radcliffe on Trent also has a railway station, although the frequency of service is poor.

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What You Told Us

Concerns have been raised in relation to the capacity of the road network.

A radical rethinking of car parking in the centre of Radcliffe would be required if there was to be any further development.

Environment

There are a number of environmental designations within the surrounding countryside. The area to the east of the village is within an area of flood risk. There are no conservation areas within the village itself, however the area around the former Saxondale Hospital (now Upper Saxondale) is a conservation area.

The agricultural land that surrounds Radcliffe is predominantly Grade 3 with some areas of Grade 2 land around the East of the village. Radcliffe on Trent is one of only two places in Rushcliffe that has a formal park open to the public.

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What You Told Us

Should not build on the allotments. The allotments are all full with waiting lists, however there are no plans at present by the Parish Council to supply further allotment sites.

Radcliffe on Trent is an area of flood risk

Concern over the impact of wind turbines.

How can open space and trees be protected?

Your population

Between 1991 and 2005 the population of Radcliffe on Trent grew by 9%. The Borough increased by a similar percentage over the same period.1

1 Sources: 1991, 2005 Censuses, 2005 parish population estimates (ONS)

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Radcliffe on Trent: Age Profile (2009)

40 35 30 Radcliffe Wards 25 20 Rushcliffe 15 10 5 0 0-15 16-24 25-49 50- Pensionable Percentage of population Percentage pensionable age age Age group

Radcliffe has a significantly higher proportion of older people than the Borough and national averages. 28% of people living in the Manvers and Trent wards are of pensionable age. This compares to a national average of 19% and the Borough average of 21%.

The Radcliffe wards also have a smaller proportion of younger people and people of working age compared to national and borough averages.

Housing

House Prices and Incomes

There is a significant disparity in terms of house prices between the two wards that cover Radcliffe on Trent. The average house price in the Trent ward at the end of February 2009 was £155,732, significantly lower than the Borough average of £208,074. Conversely the

10 average for the Manvers ward was significantly higher at £247,813.2

There are also disparities between the two wards in terms of income. The mean household income for Trent is £34,791 whereas the mean average household income for Manvers is £35,841. An average priced house in the Trent ward would therefore cost around 4.5 times the average household income, with an average priced house in Manvers costing almost 7 times the average household income.3

Trent ward has a similar level of owner occupation compared to the Rushcliffe average (around 79%), whereas Manvers has a higher level of owner occupation (89%). There is a virtually non-existent stock of properties such as shared ownership in both wards, reducing the opportunity for people on a modest wage to get onto the housing ladder. 10 percent of properties offered in the Trent ward are available through private rent, whereas the percentage for Manvers ward is half of this level.

Recent Development

Within the parish, both the population and the number of properties have increased over recent years. Larger residential developments have included:

2 source: Land Registry, 2009 3 source: Paycheck data, 2009

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• the area behind Grange Hall in the centre of the village, • the area to the east of the village around the site of the former West’s Nurseries; and • the former Saxondale Hospital.

The rate of development has levelled out over approximately the last five years as the larger sites have been built out.

Population growth has occurred at a slower rate than housing growth in terms of percentage change. This is reflective of the fact that there has been a decline in the average number of people living in a house.

Radcliffe on Trent: Percentage population change and additional dwellings, 2001-2009

7 6 5

4 Radcliffe population 3 Radcliff e new dw ellings 2

Percentage change 1 0 2001- 2001- 2001- 2001- 2001- 2001- 2001- 2001- 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 Year

There have been 256 new dwellings completed within the parish of Radcliffe on Trent between 2001 and 2010. Of these, 239 were general market dwellings and 17 were affordable dwellings. The graph below shows

12 the types of houses that have been built in Radcliffe on Trent and Upper Saxondale over the last few years.

Number of properties built in Radcliffe on Trent and Upper Saxondale 2001-2010

100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 Number of Properties 10 0 1234123412341234

Market Housing Affordable Housing Market Apartment Affordable Apartment Property Type and Number of Bedrooms

Housing need

Housing waiting lists are a good starting point for indicating affordable housing need, but do need to be treated with a degree of caution as there may duplication in terms of the numbers of people on the various registers across the Borough. The table on the adjacent page indicates the number of people that are on the housing waiting list for Radcliffe on Trent.

The graph indicates the type of housing that applicants are eligible for rather than what they have requested – i.e. single people or couples below pensionable age would only be eligible for a 1 bedroom flat.

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Waiting List Figures: Radcliffe on Trent

120

100

80

60

40 Number on list 20

0 Bedsit 1 bed 2 bed 1 bed flat 2 bed flat 1 bed flat 2 bed flat 2 bed 3 bed 4 bed 2 bed bungalow bungalow for the for the house house house maisonette for the for the elderly elderly elderly elderly Type of property

Opportunities for Housing

As of April 2010 there were 8 separate planning permissions for new housing development in Radcliffe. Of these, 3 have either been completed or are unlikely to be built. If the remaining 5 sites are completed, they will provide an additional 25 properties. These include 19 properties at a site at Bingham Road which is currently stalled.

There are few opportunities for further development within the built up part of Radcliffe on Trent. This means that if there were to be any development in the over the short term, this would have to be located adjacent to the village.

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What You Told Us

Some new housing developed over the next 15 years would be acceptable.

Any development would need to be sited somewhere accessible to schools, local shops and services so as not to add to peak hour traffic flows through the village and enable residents to walk/get the bus to the centre.

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Affordable housing and bungalows should be a priority for the village.

Some concerns raised over the capacity of the local road network and the sewage works.

The Rushcliffe Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment (SHLAA) 2010, which was undertaken by the Council, assesses a site’s suitability for residential development, identifying the constraints for each site and what would need to be done in general terms in order to overcome these constraints if feasible4. It also identifies how many houses could potentially be accommodated on them and when they could potentially be built.

The map on the adjacent page shows the sites that have been assessed in the 2010 SHLAA. The map also shows some of the constraints that exist.

4 Available to download from http://www.rushcliffe.gov.uk/doc.asp?docid=11306&catid=10895

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The only large site that is not located within the Green Belt is site number 185. There would be issues relating to drainage and noise from the A52 to resolve if it were to be developed in the future.

Summary of main issues

Radcliffe has a significantly higher proportion of older people than the Borough and national averages. It also has a lower proportion of younger people and people of working age.

An elderly and ageing population can have serious impacts on the local economy and the services and facilities it provides. For example, extra pressure will be place on the services that elderly people especially rely on such as health and social care. The local economy could also suffer with the very elderly often having smaller amounts of disposable income to spend. Declining numbers of people under the age of 16 could also impact on local schools and their future viability.

Due to increasing average life expectancy and people living in smaller households, it is unlikely that the limited supply of sites with planning permission in Radcliffe on Trent would maintain the existing population level of the settlement. A declining population would likely compound the problems identified above.

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This leaflet is also available to download from www.rushcliffe.gov.uk/planningpolicy

Rushcliffe Borough Council T 0115 981 9911 Civic Centre F 0115 945 5882 Pavilion Road E [email protected] West Bridgford W www.rushcliffe.gov.uk Nottingham NG2 5FE