The layout of a new 430-home housing development just outside Newark has been approved despite some councillors raising fears over part of it sitting in a flood zone.
Initial permission for 1,800 homes on land in Fernwood was granted in February 2024, and the homes are being built in various phases.
Persimmon Homes will be building 430 homes off Claypole Lane, and the green light has now been given for the design and layout of the development at a Newark and Sherwood District Council planning committee meeting on September 4.
However, concerns were raised over a section of the development that sits within an area where the probability of flooding is high, with between a 1 in 30 and 1 in 100 chance of flooding annually.
While the homes themselves will be built away from this area, a number of sports pitches – for rugby and football uses – and 21 allotment plots will be built in this flood zone.
Cllr David Moore, who represents Beacon for the Independents for Newark and District, and is the vice-chair of the committee, voted against the proposed layout.
“My problem generally is when I look at the sports area,” he said. “And the fact is there are allotments down there, and you get people putting a lot of work into allotments.
“I wouldn’t like to see their hard work washed away.”
A sports pavilion building is also planned in the area at greater risk of flooding, Cllr Moore added.
Cllr Neill Mison, the chairman of Fernwood Parish Council, raised similar concerns over the sports provision and allotments being built in what is designated “flood zone 3a”.
He further raised issues with the highways infrastructure in the area, which “hasn’t changed much” since 2016, when plans for the homes first began to be considered.
But he said: “On the whole we have to accept this has to happen.”
Robbie Steel, representing the applicant, said: “It includes a range of sports pitches, we’ve got changing rooms, allotments, six new bus stops, and those bus stops also help link into the Allison Homes scheme to the north.
“We’ve got tree-lined streets, extensive landscaping, and an urban square at the heart of the scheme. There are interlinked green routes, sustainable urban drainage features, our parking provision exceeds the adopted standards.
“We are operating in the midst of the most significant housing crisis of our generation, and this will secure 430 much-needed homes.”
A council officer said the developer had been sufficiently challenged on the problems facing the development, including highways concerns, and that “a lot of thought” had gone into the scheme.
“We do understand the local concerns that have been raised, and as I say, this was properly considered in outline,” the officer added.
Despite some votes to reject or abstain, the reserved matters – relating to appearance, landscaping, layout and scale – were approved.
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