By Jamie Waller, Local Democracy Reporter
More than 140 new homes are likely to be approved next week near a Nottinghamshire country park.
Gedling Borough Council is expected to grant the application for a new housing estate on grassland off the A60 in Redhill, near Arnold.
Residents have expressed fears the development will intrude on countryside views and is less than a kilometre from Bestwood County Park.
The site is bordered by the recently-completed Eagle’s Edge housing estate to the east, more homes to south, and open fields to the north and west.
The application from Barwood Homes Ltd would see 141 homes accessed through a new road created off the A60 Mansfield Road.
There would be 21 cheaper affordable homes, with another 15 specifically set aside as first homes.
Council officers have recommended the application is approved when it goes before the council’s planning committee on Wednesday (March 26).
A total of 22 local residents have objected to the development.
Some wrote that it would encroach on Green Belt land, take away habitat that is used by wildlife, and could harm the nearby country park.
Others have pointed to existing congestion problems in the area, saying they already have difficulty getting out of nearby estates onto Mansfield Road.
None of the public bodies which legally have a say on planning applications have raised objections.
However, Nottinghamshire County Council noted a shortage of secondary and post-16 education places in the area meant they would be asking the developer to contribute almost £800,000.
The NHS has suggested a contribution of nearly £80,000 towards expanding care at Stenhouse Medical Practice, Highcroft Surgery and Daybrook Medical Practice.
Artists’ impressions of the site show green space preserved around the perimeter of the estate, with each house having a back garden.
