A property developer has lodged an appeal against a Nottinghamshire council due to one of his projects at an old college site going undecided for 10 months. Arran Bailey, the managing director of the ALB Group, is developing Nottingham College's former Beeston campus on High Road in Chilwell.
The project has been split into three phases, with the biggest one involving the creation of 162 student apartments. That aspect of the project was recently approved after months of wrangling, which involved an appeal being made against Broxtowe Borough Council for originally refusing it.
The government concluded that there were no unacceptable impacts on the local area because of the project, but Mr Bailey said that the planning appeal process took a "massive toll" on his company. Although the first apartments are set to be ready by September 2023, Mr Bailey now says that he has lodged another appeal over one of the other three phases to his Nottingham College project.
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His plan is for one of the existing buildings to be converted into residential use and he is seeking permission for the construction of an apartment building, six semi-detached houses and one dormer bungalow. But after first submitting this application last October, and having re-submitted it in July, Mr Bailey is appealing because of the amount of time that Broxtowe Borough Council is taking to come to a decision.
Applicants can appeal if a local planning authority does not make a decision on an application within a set deadline. Mr Bailey said: "There has clearly been a lot of public interest in proposals for this next phase of development on the site and following the submission of the application in October last year an appeal has now been submitted to the Secretary of State because – some 10 months on – it has not yet been determined.
"However, we remain committed to working with the local planning authority in order to reach agreement on key issues relating to the proposed scheme and the resubmitted application will allow that dialogue to continue hopefully towards a positive recommendation that planning permission should be granted."
The Nottingham College building in Chilwell was sold in 2020, with students moving to the £58 million City Hub campus which opened in the November of that year. Nottingham College was formed after a merger in 2017 between Central College Nottingham and New College Nottingham.
Residents of Chilwell mostly welcomed the next stage of development at the former college site. Retired couple Julian and Amanda Lambert, 65 and 58, said: "We are all for it, the more people the better because it helps the local businesses.
"As long as the students behave themselves then it won't be an issue having this next to the student accommodation. It would be a great help to the local economy."
Adelaide Miller, 67, a project coordinator from Chilwell, said: "We have enough of the student stuff, I wouldn't choose to live next to the students. We need more retirement things like bungalows but if they are close to the student flats it could be loud after a few Friday nights."
But Careen Mary Lowe, 81, who lives in Chilwell and is a former medical secretary at the QMC, added: "Anything that helps students is good, as long as there's no more traffic. I have no objections but I do think maybe for the private apartments that the price should be lower. The older generation fight for bungalows around here so more would be good as if one comes on the market it's gone quickly."
A spokesperson for Broxtowe Borough Council confirmed: "A non-determination appeal was submitted to the Planning Inspectorate in June 2022 for phase three of the redevelopment of the former Chilwell College site, seven months following the application being made valid by the local planning authority in December 2021. The local planning authority will work positively and proactively alongside the appellant and Planning Inspectorate by considering all relevant planning considerations to assist in the determination of the appeal."
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