By Andrew Topping, Local Democracy Reporter
Land next to a Newark and Sherwood village hall could be sold to developers to make way for new homes.
The land, at The Green in Rolleston, is currently used as an overspill car park for the nearby village hall, which is run by the parish council.
But cabinet members on Newark and Sherwood District Council will be recommended to sell off the space to make way for the houses.
Documents published ahead of the meeting on Tuesday (June 7) state the land would be sold off to Arkwood Developments Ltd so the properties can be built.
Eight homes would be built on the land in total, with five to be added to the council’s housing revenue account (HRA) portfolio.
The authority states these would be marketed as affordable rental homes.
The remaining three properties would then be created for sale on the housing market, with the council stating these types of properties have been identified as required by a housing needs survey.
It is unknown at this stage how many bedrooms each home would have, with a future planning application required before the houses can actually be built.
The full price of the land sale is not disclosed in public documents, with the cabinet due to approve the sale in behind-closed-doors discussions.
This is because of potential sensitive financial information contained within papers and in the debate.
However, public papers confirm initial land valuations conducted last year found the site to be worth about £275,000 for the proposed market sale properties.
Negotiations have since been ongoing between the authority and Arkwood Developments, with an offer for the three market sale plots put into the council.
The offer, papers state, will see the company work alongside the council to develop the eight homes, with the same contractor to be used for the HRA properties and the market homes.
The authority says this will allow for costs to be shared when developing the new council houses.
The council papers state: “A joint development of the site to deliver market sale properties and HRA affordable rental properties would subsidise the HRA development costs of the site against current average build costs.
“The potential joint development saving to the HRA would be achieved mainly through shared costs of external works, [including] access road, utility works [and] groundwork.
“Cost-saving would also be achieved with shared project management, site welfare, and site management.
“The site would need to be developed jointly at the same time and with the same contractor for the potential savings to be achieved.”
The council adds it has conducted consultations on bringing forward the plans, which found “no major objections” from the local parish council.
Residents questioned the impact it could have on parking at the village hall, but documents state this would be resolved by the site using another field next to the proposed site.
If cabinet members approve the land sale on Tuesday, two existing bungalows on the land would also need to be demolished to make way for the new homes.
The existing car parking lease with the parish council would also be terminated if cabinet members give the plans their backing on Tuesday.
