Mowlands is viable says Kirkby group

A Kirkby residents’ group has given its backing to the Mowlands housing development because it offers ‘many positive solutions’ for providing much-needed housing.
Aerial view of how the Mowlands development in Kirkby will look.Aerial view of how the Mowlands development in Kirkby will look.
Aerial view of how the Mowlands development in Kirkby will look.

A planning application for the development was submitted to Ashfield District Council last week according to the developers Westerman Homes.

If approved, the development will see 1,800 new homes, 12 hectares of employment land, a new primary school, a park and a relief road built on land behind Ashfield School and along the A38 corridor.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Members of the Kirkby Residents’ Green Belt Association (KRGBA) say that the development is a ‘sustainable and viable’ solution to the district’s housing need - while building on open countryside land instead of protected greenbelt.

Jackie James, from the KRGBA, said: “In response to the Mowlands proposal, we feel that these plans provide many positive solutions in delivering the housing needs for Kirkby’s future, whilst acknowledging the importance of greenbelt land.”

The KRGBA welcomes improvements to the infrastructure that the Mowlands development proposes, including the creation of a relief road to ease congestion and the provision of a new primary school.

However members are worried that the new Local Plan for Ashfield earmarks greenbelt land near to Derby Road in Kirkby for housing.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Jackie added: “We acknowledge the challenges in providing housing for the next 10 years and understand that there must be a provision of land made for this purpose.

“In our view this should exhaust all other avenues of land use, such as brownfield and countryside land along with bringing back into use any empty homes.”

Westerman Homes claims that the £200m Mowlands development will create 1,000 permanent jobs.