"So much wrong with this proposal": Councillor's concerns as Mansfield houses plan moves to next stage
Mansfield Council has approved the layout of a new housing estate on the east side of the town.
A total of 19 homes are set to be built on the site of a former detached house off Oak Tree Lane.
Initial planning permission for the site was granted in 2024, but the council wanted more details on exactly how the proposed properties would be laid out on the site before letting construction work go ahead.
The information was brought before the district council’s planning committee at a meeting on February 16.
It was explained that the site has been set for development for a while, with a previous planning application for six houses more than a decade ago being granted permission.
This work never took place.
The latest one was submitted in 2023 for a mix of one, two, three, four and five bed homes.
After permission was granted, trees were removed from the site to make way for the building work to begin and the existing house was demolished.
Due to privacy concerns for neighbours on the south side of the proposed properties, three of the new-builds will now be bungalows so that no windows overlook existing back gardens.
Four local objections were raised to the newest layout plans, compared to 10 when the original plans were submitted.
But defending the plans to the council’s planning committee, agent Claire Salton said: “The buildings have been carefully designed and the buildings orientated to ensure there are no adverse impacts on existing residential properties and bungalows have been introduced where appropriate.”
Debating the topic, Coun Nigel Moxon (Con) said he would be voting against the plans.
He said: “I remember when this came up before and I was against it and I said that 19 houses was too much on there.
"Having looked at the plan, it still looks like there’s far too many houses on that patch of land.
“I’m not convinced that the developers are not going to, at some point, come back and go ‘we’ll build some more houses at the end’.
“The fact we can’t change it, that it’s still a 40mph zone there and the difficulties with turning right into it off Oak Tree Lane.
“There’s just so much that’s wrong with this development that I can’t possibly vote for it.”
But the rest of the committee voted in favour of the plans and they were approved.