Neighbours have said a Nottinghamshire village will 'become a town' if plans for thousands of homes to built at a barracks move forward. Chetwynd Barracks, on the edge of Toton and Chilwell, is earmarked for up to 4,500 new homes upon its closure, as well as employment space and a major transport hub which was originally planned to serve an HS2 station.
The huge project was said to have been 'complicated' at the end of 2021, with the review of the barracks' closure being pushed from 2024 to 2026 and Toton missing out on its long-rumoured HS2 hub. But recently a £40m bid has been launched for funding from the Government’s Levelling Up fund, which would be used to build a link road to the east of Bardills Island to connect the A52 with Toton Lane and service the vast housing project.
Residents living on Calverton Close in Toton, next to one end of the large barracks complex, said they expected a massive change in the area if the full plans were enacted. Dave Crosby, 57, who works as a car valet and lives on Calverton Close, said Toton would be turned into a town by the new housing. "It will be chaos and the level of change will be crazy. I think it will be too many people for a small area at the moment, Toton used to be a village but it will be a town," Mr Crosby said.
"I've lived here 22 years and I can't imagine that many houses being around here. For most people it feels like the barracks has been there forever.
"I don't think there are enough roads for it, all the traffic and construction will be crazy. I can't get out of this road already."
Irene Ware, 87, who also lives on Calverton Close, said: "Everything would change here if it went ahead. But we just do not know if it will happen. I think all we can do is listen and then think about whether it will go ahead. The barracks has been here a long time, it's a historic building really."
Plans for Chetwynd Barracks and the neighbouring Toton site contained in the Toton and Chetwynd Barracks Strategic Masterplan had been thought to offer a "once in-a-generation opportunity to boost the East Midlands economy", when combined with works at Ratcliffe-on-Soar Power Station and the area around the East Midlands Airport - as well as the now cancelled HS2 East Midlands Hub Station at Toton. These projects aimed to create 84,000 jobs and add £4.8bn to the value of the regional economy, with hopes the Toton and Chetwynd sites would provide 6000 jobs for local people and new residents.
Margaret Kent, 86, retired and lives on Calverton Close opposite the barracks, said: "It [the barracks] is always busy and there's a lot of equipment that it moved around still. It's still very active.
"These plans have been in the works for years and years. I don't think I'll be here to see the start of it.
"The barracks are quite a big landmark, it's what I'd use to tell people where I lived - I would say 'just near the barracks'. It will probably be a good thing for the future, but I'm not sure how the roads will cope as it is already busy."
The master plan had originally included a development of 500 homes by 2028 at the barracks, with a maximum capacity of 1,500, as well as a a primary school, a medical centre, a small retail/service centre to meet local needs and small-scale office development. There are 180 dwellings that are currently used as service family accommodation within the barracks, which are to be retained and integrated with the new proposals.
Ruth Hyde, Chief Executive at Broxtowe Borough Council, said: “Despite the fact that Toton will not be the hub station for HS2, we still have significant ambitions for the site expressed in the masterplan.
"In particular, for it to be a very well connected area within a top quality environment setting, offering highly sustainable homes for everyone and jobs that will help to improve the quality of life for people throughout the area. We are glad that the Government supports the level of ambition we have for the site and the development company that we have helped to set up to make these plans a reality.”
Chetwynd Barracks is owned by the Ministry of Defence and the Government had announced previously the site was no longer required for national defence purposes, before delaying the site's review. The site was first developed as the Chilwell National Shell Filling Factory during the First World War, which was damaged in a 1918 explosion in which 134 people died.
The Grade II listed memorial to the explosion is a key focal point within the site, and is surrounded by memorial gardens. The future development would allow the public access to heritage aspects that are currently not possible due to the site’s military use, but would also mean any ground contamination would need to addressed during the development process.
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