By Andrew Topping, Local Democracy Reporter
The timetable for progressing Ashfield’s controversial draft local plan is “not set in stone” a council leader has said, amid concerns over the document being put on hold.
Councillor Jason Zadrozny (Ash Ind) reaffirmed the authority will not be conducting any further work on the plan until it receives clarity from the Government on potential policy changes.
Local plans are drawn up by councils to allocate land for development in future years and explain how they will hit Government targets to build new homes.
The council confirmed in November it was pausing the document amid comments made by both Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Housing Secretary Michael Gove.
Mr Johnson’s statement at the Conservative Party Conference in September outlined a Government plan to prioritise housebuilding on brownfield, disused sites, and for protection to be given to greenfield land.
Mr Gove’s comments, made in Parliament in the autumn, described the current methodology of calculating housebuilding targets as “outdated”, suggesting the system could be reformed.
Both issues have been central to the wider discussion about Ashfield’s local plan, with council leaders suggesting the 8,226-home target is “unmanageable” without building homes on “precious” fields.
The authority says it can only build roughly 1,100 homes on brownfield sites before having to find green space to build the remaining homes.
And leading councillors hope the statements made by the Government could see major changes brought forward to the local plan system, in turn bringing down the number of homes required from the document significantly.
Speaking in the full council meeting on Thursday (January 27), Councillor Zadrozny, leader of the council, explained more details behind the plan’s delay.
The suspension of the plan came at the end of the first stage of consultation in November, with the second round of consultation due to begin in March or April this year under initial timescales.
However, Cllr Zadrozny said this will now not go ahead until the Government responds to his queries.
He said: “The plan’s timeframe is indefinite on the basis that we have to wait for the Government to come back to us, and then we have to respond.
“Part of that response could be that there’s a significant change to the local plan, and the Government’s response could lead to all sorts of avenues meaning that timeframe isn’t followed.
“We’re not following the timeframe to push forward with the local plan, we’re trying to pause and change it on the basis of the response from the Government.
“So that timeframe [of another consultation in March] is absolutely not set in stone.”
The remarks come just days after campaigners had the opportunity to air their concerns about the plan.
One of the major developments within the plan proposes 3,000 homes on greenbelt land at Whyburn Farm, Hucknall, while the second large settlement would see 1,000 homes built on greenfield land at Cauldwell Road, Sutton.
These two developments were subject to their own petitions, totalling more than 9,000 signatures, while a motion calling for the plan to be redrawn was also debated when the cabinet met on Tuesday (January 25).
All three submissions were “recognised” and will become part of the formal draft local plan consultation, but no decision on whether to scrap the plan was taken at the meeting.
The Government’s Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities has been approached for a comment on the council’s queries.
