Plans for 110 new homes as part of the £100m Trent Basin development in Nottingham have been approved. Proposals for the homes, submitted by developer Blueprint, were passed with one vote against at a Nottingham City Council planning committee meeting on April 19.
The latest site is a nine-acre plot of former industrial land, which surrounds Trent Basin on the north bank of the River Trent and sits to the west of Trent Lane. The homes will be built next to service company Veolia which currently operates a waste management facility on Freeth Street.
The developer said there is a focus on sustainable travel for residents, but Chair of the committee Cllr Michael Edwards (Lab) said the applicant is “not even close to getting a commercial bus service” for the area. Cllr Sally Longford (Lab) added she was “underwhelmed” by the plans and questioned why the only green space provision was a “pocket park”.
She said: “From a biodiversity and green space perspective, it struck me that there wasn’t a lot of green space. The pocket park is tiny.
“The biodiversity team at the council commented that there was a severe lack of. “We’ve got this wonderful opportunity to make a nice feature of the basin, which is the focus of the development, and yet we don’t seem to be making use of it in terms of giving people any form of places to sit and relax.
“That seems a shame. There’s also very little ability for wildlife. This is a weakness for me in the design. “While I appreciate the developers have got to make it economically viable, it does seem like we’ve got missed opportunities here.”
The developer said it was unable to pay the council’s Section 106 money which would usually go towards local amenities. Cllr Kevin Clarke (Ind) said he was “puzzled” over the Section 106 arrangements.
He said: “It seems to be that developers are getting away with it more and more. “It’s a bit concerning that yet again there are no Section 106 payments.”
Service company Veolia currently operates a waste management facility in Freeth Street, which processes household waste and recycling on behalf of Nottinghamshire County Council. The facility sits next to the proposed development although it is due to relocate to a new site at Colwick Industrial Estate.
However it says the new site is “years from full operation” and the Freeth Street facility will continue to operate as is “for the foreseeable future”. It has therefore asked the council to consider any impact on residents if the development is approved, with some operations taking place as early as 4am and ceasing as late as 6pm.
Veolia had asked for this to be considered but councillors did not discuss it during the meeting. A “parking barn” will also be built with around 200 car parking spaces, alongside new roads and 3,000 square-feet of space for a café and food and drink outlets.
A new pedestrian and cycle bridge is also set to be built in the near future, with a planning application due to be submitted in the summer. The new bridge will link the Trent Basin area west of Trent Lane, off Daleside Road in the city, to south bank of the river close to The Hook nature reserve in Lady Bay, Rushcliffe.
The plans were approved with a recommendation from the committee that the developer explores further options for maximising biodiversity.
