Reader letter: We have been sold down the River Ryton

The planning committee met on the evening of Wednesday, 22nd October to consider this application by Hallam Land Management (Henry Boot) and their consultants the Pegasus Group.

The application site lies outside the development boundary as defined in BDC’s own Core Strategy.

It is on a green field site of good agricultural land currently planted with wheat.

In fact the site is still in the process of a consultation exercise on preferred options for site allocations for housing which has not yet been completed.

The final proposals are to be considered by a planning inspector at a public inquiry but the date has not yet been agreed!

We have heard nothing of this since sending in comments in March.

As Bassetlaw does not have a Green Belt Policy or strategy, or a Nature Conservation Plan our open spaces are open to development by private firms from outside the area.

Currently, Shireoaks Parish Council is going through a public consultation on its Draft Neighbourhood Plan and point one in its Vision Document is ‘the village remains a settlement separate from Worksop by securing open spaces and protecting the setting of the village.’

Other points stress conservation, preventing flood risk and development that considers the views of the community.

The deadline is 26th November and the final plan will have to be rubber-stamped by Bassetlaw Council itself.

In the absence of any strategy that covers the site the planning application ‘jumps the gun’.

Despite objections by Ward councillors David Pressley and Sybil Fielding and resident Mrs Patricia Payling , no parish councillor attended to make their allowed objection.

Retford Councillor Graham Oxby made an eloquent objection and said ‘posterity will accuse us of sacrificing our vilages and open space ‘ if we permit this to happen.

In the event the vote was four for and four against.

The chairman, Coun Bill Barker, added his discretionary vote with the ‘for’ voters (from other parts of Bassetlaw) so the Outline Planning Permission has been granted.

The site has been flooded and is on a flood plain, it is near a very busy A57 and Woodsetts roundabout and will be the gateway from the west and so will be the first thing people will see as they enter Worksop, along with the Notts County Council’s waste transfer station and ‘tip’ currently being built at Claylands at the roundabout.

Along with proposals for big housing schemes at Gateford this will have the effect of making the west of Worksop an urban sprawl.

Thank goodness for Lindrick Golf Course which separates us from Anston and the new Dinnington townships in South Yorkshire.

The effect of all this new housing, hard standing and drains along with industry will be to introduce a lot of new water into sewers and overflows and add to the Ryton’s vulnerability to flood downstream in Shireoaks, Rhodesia and Worksop.

The comment was made that to turn down the application would be to leave the council open to a costly court case if the developer went to appeal.

In the event that threat seems to have won the day for the house builders and those selling off the fields.

The custodians of our ‘green belt’ have not served us well!

Mike Wild