Appeal lodged after plans for 184 homes in Ollerton are rejected
Rejected plans for a proposed 184-home estate that was thrown out over an apparent ‘bonkers’ access point will go to appeal.
Councillors on Newark & Sherwood Council’s planning committee unanimously rejected plans back in January 2026 for 184 homes to be built on land to the west of Newark Road in Ollerton.
The development, put forward by Telereal (Caledonian) Ltd, would make up part of the former Ollerton Colliery site.
Despite the scheme being recommended for approval to the committee, members rejected it due to concerns about the single access point to the new estate from Newark Road.
There were fears this would put strain on the ‘already extremely congested’ Rufford Avenue or Poplar Street, according to nearby resident Andrea Smithson, who spoke to the committee at the time.
Also speaking in the meeting, Coun Celia Brooks (Lab) said the single access point was ‘driving her bonkers’ and thought it was feasible for a second access to be added to link up with the Tesco roundabout.
The authority also rejected the scheme over the lack of affordable homes being included in the development, where the council seeks 30 per cent of new homes in developments to be affordable.
Now, the developer is fighting the refusal by lodging an appeal to the Planning Inspectorate in July.
Nearby resident, Mr MJ Griffin has recently written in to the council to register his formal and ‘strenuous’ objection to the plans and the appeal.
He said an added ‘massive volume’ of daily traffic through the quieter Culpepper Avenue and Lavender Close next to the proposed development would create an ‘unacceptable bottleneck’.
He said: “A single stalled vehicle, delivery truck, or accident at the main junction would entirely block emergency services from accessing both the new estate and existing homes.”
Appeal documents say there is ‘sufficient capacity’ in the local road network to deal with extra vehicles from the site and the development would not have an ‘unacceptable impact’ on road safety.
They state: “When it comes to providing a single point of access, neither local nor national policy requires provision of more than one access for a development of this scale.
“It is also notable that a single point of access has previously been approved by the council in the extant permission to serve a similar number of dwellings.”
The developer says the ‘only potential point of access’ to the road is the junction of Culpepper Avenue and Newark Road and improvements made to Culpepper Avenue will ‘remove’ potential obstructions from the main road.
Appeal documents also say while the council’s own planning policy seeks 30 per cent of affordable housing in a new development, consideration can be given to schemes without it, if providing affordable homes would render the development unviable.
The previous agreement over the developer’s financial contributions of more than £1m was also reiterated.
The Planning Inspectorate is due to decide the appeal by a hearing, where a date will be given in future.
The developer has requested for the council to cover its appeal costs if it is successful.