Mansfield District Council has signed a agreement with the owners of two large greenfield sites next to the MARR road so they can become part of a regeneration scheme which has been planned for years.

Initially, council chiefs wanted to just transform the run-down terraced houses off Chesterfield Road North –– which are likely to be demolished –– but now want to include 29 hectares of fields in the development as well.

Coun Kate Allsop, portfolio holder for regeneration, said the project would include constructing different types of houses along with a range of employment buildings at the gateway to the district.

She said: "For the people of Pleasley, it will bring enormous benefits.
We have looked at other schemes in the past and they didn't stack up because it wasn't a big enough site and wasn't favourable for housing and employment.

"The gateway from Junction 29 of the motorway is not very welcoming. It is not nice for the people who live there. They have been promised so many times that development will happen.

"At that time, we were just looking at the area where there is housing now and there wasn't enough profit to get developer interest.

"This agreement will help to bring forward an excellent regeneration project. Because we have got this collaboration agreement in place, we can start doing serious masterplanning and bring about a development that will do Mansfield proud.

"These things don't happen overnight. I would expect within three to five years that area will look very different."

Coun Allsop said there had been interest from developers in the scheme and there would be full consultation with local residents.