Anxious residents neighbouring a piece of overgrown former farmland have warned a plan for new homes could prove an 'inconvenience'. Plans to build nine new homes on the site of the former Colwick Manor Farm, in Colwick, have not been welcomed by some neighbours, who say the land should be left as it is.
A main house and long barn had previously been cleared and salvaged for reuse, leaving the land to become overgrown. The Manor Farm house had collapsed before being completely demolished, with its developers stating it had been in a "perilous" condition as a result of a storm a number of years ago.
Officials from CAMplan, a planning and design consultancy, said previous plans for 13 homes were rejected and ideas for "an old folks' home" had also knocked back in the past. They hope that this time the application, submitted to Gedling Borough Council for nine homes, can finally be successful.
What three words would you use to describe Nottinghamshire? Have your say here
There would be a new access off Colwick Manor Road/Shakespeare Closen. But those living nearby thought the proposal would cause "an inconvenience" if approved.
Debby Fisher, 55, who works as a teacher, said: “It’s going to cause so much trouble and who knows how long it will take to be put up. I think some things should be left as they are.
"The farm is in a state. It would be nice to see it cleaned up a bit and but I don’t know if more houses are the solution."
A man, who asked not to be named and lives nearby, said: “I don’t think anyone will want it to go ahead, it’s just so much inconvenience for something I’m sure can be solved somewhere else, which causes less chaos to everyone. I’m getting older, I don’t want to be forced away by the construction and annoyed at where I live.
"It always takes forever to build to I am just worried that it's going to cause a lot of distribution here."
Attempts were made to raise money to restore the building in the past which were ultimately unsuccessful. Since then a CAMplan associate has stated that the site has been the subject of "some planning interest".
Mark Strawbridge, a proprietor with CAMplan, said: "The plan is to get planning permission to develop on the site if it's something that owners want to build out. It's been a long struggle to sort out.
"We've worked on a few proposals over the years. The farm was a listed building but a storm destroyed parts of the roof a number of years ago.
"There were several schemes that attempted to raise enough money to restore the building.
"Ever since then the site has been the subject of some planning interest. We had a look at an old folks home, we looked at 13 units, a mixture of houses including affordable homes.
"We thought about bungalows but these ideas were not welcomed with open arms. Now it's nine straight forward homes."
READ NEXT:
