For the attention of Ms Jill Kingaby BSc (Econ) MSc MRTPI Comments on the Gedling Borough Council Aligned Core Strategy following the meeting held on 30 th of July in Nottingham From Robert N Gow Chairman, Hucknall North /Central Safer Neighbourhood representing the electorate of the North and Central wards of Hucknall ( Approx 14000 people with 12 committee members covering all the residential areas of both wards) to express the concern of our committee and the residents of North and Central wards of Hucknall about the Gedling Borough Council Aligned Core Strategy, while the SNC is a voluntary group is primarily concerned with liaison with the police we do have as part of our remit the involvement with our local authority to deal with matters that affect the quality of life of local residents which explains why I am writing to you in this capacity. This document contains the proposals for the building of houses and employment sites in the Gedling Borough included in which is the prospect of building some 2000 houses and 7 ½ acres of employment land along the boundary between Ashfield District Council and Gedling Borough Council (an area on which planning guidance documents indicate that caution should be exercised) on green field sites nominated as “Land to the North of Papplewick Lane” origanally600 houses, now 800 and Top Wighay Farm” 1000 houses and 7 hectares of employment land. 1 Duty to co-operate and legal compliance Ashfield district council have indicated to Gedling their grave concerns about these proposals in that the infrastructure of Hucknall does not have the capacity to support this level of development and that it will have an adverse effect on all aspects of residents quality of life and their environment. Residents only avenue of consultation with Gedling appears to have been through a web site that required a degree in computer science to make a meaningful reply, however from the many representations made Gedling seem to have totally ignored any of the responses from A.D.C. and residents. Does this failure to co- operate affect the legal compliance of the strategy? We have concerns that the authority have already pre- meted your examination as the sites in question are already up for sale and planned out 2 The spatial strategy and housing policy Gedling have failed to use any of the large brownfield sites available in that they have 3 semi derelict ex colliery sites available plus other smaller windfall sites in the borough. 3 The Green Belt The two sites earmarked in the Hucknall area are both greenfield sites on good quality agricultural land producing valuable crops for the domestic market and providing a valuable wild life haven and food resource for the abundance animals that live in Papplewick woods 4 Economic developments Economic development in the Hucknall area is more than adequately covered by Ashfield district council’s strategy with 3 major housing developments already under construction and a future large scale proposal for the Rolls Royce site with some 900 houses and a high tech business and industrial park. 5 The environment As mentioned in 3 above both these sites are green field and are well farmed to provide a rich habitat for many species of wild life, the land North of Papplewick lane close to where I live has owls, assorted mice, (many of whom move into my garage and coal bunkers at combining time) hedgehogs, frogs and toads and a huge variety of birds and supports the animals from Papplewick woods. 6 Transports Public transport is virtually non existent at both sites with a limited bus service and the tram and train stations nearly 2 miles away 7 Infrastructure and delivery The infrastructure in the Hucknall area is struggling to cope with the developments already taking place and it has been an ongoing building site for the last 15 years Why would an authority develop green field sites some 5 miles away from its urban centre and put an employment site within 1 mile of a potential high- tech business development of some 30 hectares at the Rolls Royce site. Why develop green field sites when there are 3 ex colliery brown field sites around existing urban sites at Newstead 200 metres from the train station and a village clearly in need of some regeneration, Gedling colliery on the fringe of the Gedling conurbation with a capacity of 1200 houses along with rebuilding of transport infrastructure that would help economic regeneration in the Gedling area and Calverton another village where some investment would be appropriate. The Gedling plan is a recycled 1990 s strategy imposed by a former Nottinghamshire quango and we are deeply concerned that this area has been put forward again after previous consultation in 2003 firmly rejected this area following some 11000 objections to many aspects of the Gedling proposals. Development of this land takes little heed of the changes in the Hucknall area over the last 15 years where the local council have successfully redeveloped three ex colliery sites with a good mix of housing, retail and employment land and have further proposals to redevelop a large area of the Rolls Royce site and former air field with a 30 hectare high tech and employment site and some 800 houses plus the Papplewick Green site with some 800 houses not 200metres from the proposed “Land North of Papplewick Lane” We also feel concerns that Gedling have failed to use brown field sites in their area, Newstead Calverton and Gedling collieries when we look at the highly successful utilization of the former Hucknall and Linby sites and the ongoing matter of the golf course located in the middle of the conurbation a site proposed twice before and summarily dismissed. Our concerns centre round the issue of “localism” a policy of which we are very supportive i.e. local decisions by local people but sadly find that because of the of the political situation some 14000 residents of the two wards will be denied any say in this matter and will have no way of holding local politicians to account on an issue that will have a huge impact on their lives in environmental, social and infrastructure issues development of these sites will coalesce Hucknall Papplewick and Linby. These developments will cover good quality agricultural land that is currently farmed very productively and will destroy valuable wildlife habitat, the area in question is currently the “feeding ground” for much of the wildlife in Papplewick at Moor Pond woods this includes owls, bats, foxes, hedgehogs weasels and assorted mice and create infrastructure problems on roads and services that are already at breaking point. One of the main reasons Hucknall is being put forward is the transport corridor of the tram and train facilities in the town which are currently full to capacity. Decision on an area that has little or no impact on their political situation, only one member is affected by this decision and yet has tremendous repercussions for the residents of the Hucknall North and Central wards who can only make representation but have no political involvement. Finally there is also the issue of the of the general failure of the use of brown field sites in Nottinghamshire in Gedling a reduction of green belt by 490 hectares up to 2007 The strategy proposals would seem to us to be without logic to that which is required of a cohesive strategy for the future of both Hucknall and Gedling Borough to which we would pose the following questions. R N Gow, Chairman Hucknall North/ Central Safer Neighbourhood Committee .