By Andrew Topping, Local Democracy Reporter
Mansfield District Council has backed a draft housing plan being created by neighbouring Bassetlaw District Council and says the document “meets all the tests of soundness”.
The authority made the comments as part of an official submission to Bassetlaw’s ongoing consultation, with the council asking the public and other partners to assess its more than 10,000-home plan.
Local plans are housing documents drawn up by councils to outline where major housing developments will be built in the coming years.
Local authorities must draw up these documents by law to meet housing targets set by the Government.
Mansfield District Council already has its own plan in place, while neighbouring Bassetlaw and Ashfield councils are currently putting together their documents this year.
Now the council has issued its support to Bassetlaw’s plan during the authority’s second round of public consultation.
The authority praised the council’s housing distribution, for addressing the need for gypsy and traveller sites, and mentioned specific elements included within the document.
These include a proposed housing development on the former Welbeck Colliery site, addressing the “impacts and implications” of the plan on the A60 route, and the potential impact the plan could have on Clumber Park.
And the council also praised Bassetlaw for engaging with itself and other Nottinghamshire authorities, stating there is “common ground” between both the district councils on various parts of the plan.
The support means Mansfield District Council is generally in favour of Bassetlaw’s plan for the district and its potential impact on Mansfield, but the submission will not have a direct impact on the outcome of the plan.
It comes after Bassetlaw District Council made major changes to the plan following the first round of consultation.
The plan had initially proposed 10,047 houses, but the authority added more elements to the plan which increased this number to 10,638.
This included extending the plan by a year and changing the use of two key sites in the district.
The increase includes raising the number of homes earmarked in Thievesdale, Worksop from 1,000 to 1,080 and in Ordsall from 800 to 890.
The council said at the time the increase was proposed to make the local plan “consistent with national policy”, with the timescale for development extended from 2037 to 2038.
More than half of all homes proposed in the local plan are already included in existing planning applications previously granted permission by the authority.
The current round of consultation is due to end on February 17, and once this period ends, a final plan will be drawn together for submission to the Government.
