Proposals for 126 houses on former Clipstone Colliery site heading for rejection
A major housing application on the former Clipstone Colliery is likely to be turned down by Newark & Sherwood Council’s planning committee next week.
The plans are for 126 homes which would be built on the reclaimed land on Mansfield Road, which includes a capped mineshaft.
The former pit’s historic headstock and powerhouse, which were used to lower miners, are located close to the site.
Newark & Sherwood Council officers have recommended that the application is refused at the planning meeting on Thursday, August 1, citing problems with the proposed parking and roads.
The application has been made by Warwick-based developer Harper Crewe.
It would include 88 homes for the open market and 38 affordable homes, each with between one and five bedrooms.
The homes would be built on around five hectares – around seven football pitches – of brownfield land, where most remnants of the colliery have been demolished.
Nottinghamshire Council says it isn’t happy with several aspects the proposed roads, including lack of parking and the inadequate width of some roads, drives and garages.
Council officers have also expressed concern about the development so close to the Grade II-listed headstocks.
A report ahead of the meeting said: “The principle of any housing development on this site has the potential to harm the setting of the listed headstocks as it would encroach upon its industrial setting, diminish the historic legibility of the site and interrupt key views of the heritage asset in the immediate vicinity.
The pit operated between 1922 and 2003 and became one of the most productive in Britain, with almost a million tonnes of coal produced annually at its peak.
The headstocks have been listed by Historic England as they were once state-of-the-art and were the tallest in England at over 200 feet, although they are now facing vandalism.
Clipstone Parish Council has also raised several concerns about the plans, including pressure on local amenities, saying: “Medical facilities for residents are already stretched”.
The application has been called in to planning committee by Coun Paul Peacock (Lab), Newark & Sherwood Council leader, who also represents Clipstone.