Councillor ‘disappointed but not surprised’ as council loses housing plan appeal

The former Bunny Brickworks (Credit: BMET Ltd)
By Jamie Waller, Local Democracy Reporter
A developer has won an appeal against a council’s refusal of its plans to build 110 homes in a Nottinghamshire village.
The initial proposal for homes and businesses on the former Bunny Brickworks, off Loughborough Road, Bunny, was turned down by Rushcliffe Borough Council last July.
However, the decision has been overturned after the developer appealed to a government planning inspector.
One ward councillor for Bunny said he was “disappointed but not surprised” by the reversal, and still didn’t think development should go ahead.
The applicant, Northampton-based company BMET Ltd, will still need to submit further detailed plans before work can start.
“The thing that really concerned the planning committee is this site is designated 50 per cent for housing and 50 per cent for businesses in the Local Plan – they didn’t think this would be possible,” Councillor Andy Edyvean (Con) said.
“Although this application was only for outline permission, there were very detailed drawings of what the housing could look like, which clearly suggest that’s what the applicant wants.
“Obviously the Planning Inspector disagreed, but the developer still needs to put a full proposal forward which will comply with that.”

Cllr Edyvean said the village’s former brickworks on Loughborough Road shouldn’t be earmarked for housing at all.
“Rushcliffe Borough Council’s Local Plan was put together at a time when we were losing appeals because we didn’t have enough housing supply,” he said.
“If it was made today, there are several sites that shouldn’t be in there.
“This is one, with a big recycling centre next door which is looking to expand – the village doesn’t want that application either.
“There’s another site right next to a working farm in Keyworth. We successfully defended against that appeal when we turned plans down.”
Details haven’t been provided about what businesses would make up the proposed 5,600 square metres of employment space on the site.
The lost appeal will be discussed at Rushcliffe’s next planning committee on Thursday (June 20).
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