A developer has been chosen in what has been described as the "biggest deal in terms of value" Nottinghamshire County Council has ever brokered. There are plans for more than 800 homes off Hucknall Bypass as well as a controversial new council office, a primary school and potential for a tram extension.
Discussions surrounding the development of the Top Wighay Farm site, off Annesley Road near Hucknall, have been taking place for a number of years and outline planning permission was granted in April last year. This means the £205m project can go ahead 'in principle', subject to a detailed, reserved matters planning application being drawn up - typically to do with access arrangements for a development.
It can now be revealed a developer, Vistry Partnerships, has now been selected to take plans forward. The outline planning permission granted accounts for 805 houses, which are to be built over six years, while 17 percent will be, by definition, "affordable". A new primary school is also expected to be built at the vast new neighbourhood, near Linby, with provision for business development land, a new council building and potential for a new much-requested GP surgery.
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The site is Brownfield land, bought by the council in the early 1950s and rented out for farming. The nearby greenbelt will be unaffected.
Steve Keating, the development project manager for the site, said it was hoped a "very good village environment" will be created. He said: "The infrastructure alone is going to cost the developer over £20m, they will be putting infrastructure in, the estate roads through, the cycle routes and the utilities, services, and from then that's the significant part of it."
He added proposals also include a "local centre", which could bring forward a GP practice. Many in Ashfield and Hucknall have argued the two existing centres, Whyburn Practice and Hucknall Road Medical Centre, are not adequate for the substantial population growth in the area.
Further concerns had surrounded a new £15.7m office for Nottinghamshire County Council and whether it was required. There had been heated opposition to the plans during a council meeting in November last year, with the price of the building going up by £1m.
However, councillor Keith Girling, who represents Newark West for the Conservatives and chairman of the Economic Development and Asset Management Committee, said the building would bring council services "on your doorstep" for those living in Hucknall. It would incorporate children's services and an adult social care department.
When questioned about the controversial proposals by Nottinghamshire Live, he said: "The council building we are spending a lot of money on, but we have built in a lot of contingency plans. At the moment material prices are fluctuating quite bad but we think we have covered it.
"It is going to save us around £1.1m a year anyway in terms of looking after it ad fuelling it and that can be fed back into the pot to fund services. Part of my role is the estate. I've got about £700m of estate to look after and part of that is looking at the buildings we have got, are they fit for purpose and if they are not, do we actually renovate them or do we knock them down and build again.
"Covid has made us work differently. We have saved over a million pounds in Covid in travel claims for staff. There is no need for people to be going in all over the county now. This is about putting services, rather than all being at County Hall, making sure they are in the right place for the right people and at the right quality.
"You want to be going into an environment where you feel safe and the staff feel safe and they can work properly, so I do think it is vital." Some level of apprehension was also raised over the pressures placed on Hucknall's infrastructure, including roads, schools and GP surgeries.
Councillor Girling argued pressures on GPs was a "national problem" and added: "At the end of the day people are living longer, so they are staying in their houses longer, so we need to build more houses. That's a fact. Everyone knows that and that's what we need to do."
And Matt Neale, service director for growth and investment at the council, revealed there were plans to invest in bus links in the area as well as potential for a tram extension. Land has been safeguarded for this eventuality and could see it extended to the Whyburn Farm development nearby, with a tram stop at Top Wighay.
Whyburn Farm was allocated in Ashfield District Council's local development plan for 3,000 extra houses to be built elsewhere on Hucknall’s greenbelt, to the north-west of Hucknall town centre and east of the M1. On January 25, local councillors and campaigners called the plan to be scrapped. The pause in the controversial Local Area Plan was cited by the developers of the newly planned estate as the reason to file a planning application that would give 'certainty' to the area.
Mr Neale said: "There is land allocated on here for the tram to potentially link up to Whyburn Farm. So there could be a tram stop on this site. There is a significant contribution to bus services as part of a section 106, so there will be a bus route through the site. It is the biggest deal in terms of value the county council has ever done."
"I know people are nervous, they don't like change, they don't like something new coming but actually I have been involved in things where we have done things where they is changed and there has been outcry, but we've done it and people are enjoying what is there now," councillor Girling added.
Line 1 of the tram line runs between Toton Lane tram stop and Hucknall, and has a journey time of 62 minutes. Line 2, which has 27 or 28 stops (again depending on direction), runs between Clifton and Phoenix Park with a journey time of 47 minutes.
