Neighbours believe plans for more than 100 homes in a Nottingham suburb have the potential to make it a "better place to live". A large part of the former British Gas Works site on Radford Road, New Basford would be transformed into a estate of 114 homes if permission is granted at Nottingham City Council's planning committee on May 18.
The space is currently undeveloped, with a council report stating it was "disused and overgrown" after many years of being vacant. The area is bounded to the north by Basford Depot - a gas pipeline and infrastructure site.
Local residents said the project had the potential to make the area a "better place to live", adding to the recently built police custody unit and PDSA building. Hartley Whiteley, 59, a retired community worker who lives on Silverdale Road, said: "I didn't know anything about the plan, that would have been a big surprise if they'd starting going up. I'll be happy to see it finally put to some sort of use.
Read more: Former gas works in New Basford set to be transformed into more than 100 new homes
"It is better that there is a social aspect with the houses than something else, there's not a lot of houses around here. And you've got a shortage of houses everywhere.
"It's all part of the development of what at the minute is a place that is not nice to look at, with the PDSA building and police custody building as well. Maybe people would think between a police custody centre and the gas depot wouldn't be a good place to live, but I'm sure they've thought that all through.
"It all makes it a better place to live. All these new buildings and people feed into the development of the area."
Ehsin Mushtaq, 31, who is a Uber driver and lives on Silverdale Road, was glad to hear of the investment into the area. "I think it is a great initiative as it looks untidy at the moment, we need a lot of housing around here.
"To have it look nice would really change the area. We have wanted it to be cleaned up for a while. I think all of the new buildings are improving the area, the PDSA was needed as there's only one in Nottingham. You'll have the new houses next to it too, it's quite a bit investment.
"Traffic is bad down here so that could be a problem. But maybe I could get some new customers."
If approved by planning officials, there would be 71 two-bed houses and 43 three-bed houses at the new housing development, with a mix of terrace, semi-detached and detached properties with parking provided mainly front of the properties. The site was previously granted Outline Planning Permission in 2006 for mixed use purposes, business, retail, residential, community facilities, a car showroom, as well as a new access to the site, but work was never started.
A New Basford resident, who did not want to be named, added: "I think that will be a big change. It's all overgrown at the minute and no use to anyone. Why not build on there, I don't see anything else filling that land. I just hope they will be houses that are affordable for most people."
A council report stated the scheme had been the subject of extensive discussions with the council’s design team since its original submission. After comments from the Nottingham Civic Society the plan was changed to add green and amenity space and parking spots were reduced in an effort to make sure parked cars would not dominate the street.
A planning document, submitted by the applicant Strata to Nottingham City Council, said: "Our proposal involves the creation of 114 new homes which will help Nottingham City Council meet their housing needs.
"We have shown, through this document and the supporting details submitted with this application, how we have considered the site and its surrounding environment in physical, social and economic terms and explained how these factors have influenced the evolution of the site design, both in conceptual and detailed terms, to its current proposal". The application has been recommended to be granted but a final decision will be made by councillors at the Nottingham City Council's planning committee on May 18.
