Campaigner’s joy after Sutton development removed from Ashfield housing plan

Laura Gapski spearheaded the fight for plans at Cauldwell Road, Sutton, to be dropped from Ashfield District Council’s controversial housing document.

Ms Gapski, who is the director of nearby Bright Sparks Private Day Nursery, helped to draw up a petition which has attracted more than 1,700 signatures, calling for the plan to be halted.

After the plans were first revealed, she spoke of concerns over “severe disruption” to hers and other businesses and said: “It can’t happen here.”

Now she has expressed her pleasure after a council committee voted to shelve the plan in a move described as “risky”.

The decision was taken on Tuesday (November 15) by the local development plan committee, with Ms Gapski in the public gallery to watch it unfold.

Speaking in the days following the meeting, she told the Local Democracy Reporting Service said there was a lot of “discontent” with the proposals.

She said: “I am pleased our objections and petitions have been acknowledged and listened to. Those involved in the plan and local councillors have understood the extent of the discontent over the inclusion of Cauldwell Road.

“We now have time to work with landowners and each other to do all we can to prevent its inclusion in future plans. It allows residents more time to consider their options about their homes, their politics and their actions.”

The development was due to be part of the 15-year, 8,226-home housing document setting out where new development will be built until 2038.

But backlash for the Cauldwell Road site as well as plans for 3,000 homes on Hucknall’s greenbelt at Whyburn Farm led to both sites being shelved.

Ashfield District Council will instead submit a significantly-reduced plan to Government inspectors in a bid to “challenge” ministers on the 8,226-home figure.

The authority now needs to seek further assessments on how to submit the reduced document and another consultation is expected in the new year.

The results from the consultation will be provided directly to the Government Planning Inspectorate, with inspectors to test the plan for its ‘soundness’.

The decision on Tuesday also saw Whyburn Farm completely removed from the plan after an even bigger backlash including a nearly 8,000-name petition.

It means a document with slightly more than 4,000 homes will be submitted and the housing target set by Government calculations will not be met.

Councillor Matt Relf (Ash Ind), portfolio holder for economic regeneration, proposed the move in a bid to “challenge” Whitehall on its housing policies.

He said in the meeting: “We should, as politicians, give certainty for the future and I’d like that certainty to be reduced housing numbers.

“Let’s go for it and try that. What’s the downside? They declare our reduced 15-year plan unfit and say we need to deliver those two sites.”

No council has ever found success in challenging housing targets in this way.

If inspectors reject the reduced document, they could have the power to enforce the original plan – including both developments – to be delivered in full.

Or they could draw up a new plan without the influence of local leaders.