Plea to save Hucknall green belt wildlife site at Broomhill Farm from being lost to housing

As the row over the proposals to put 3,000 homes on land at Whyburn Farm rages on, a Hucknall resident has pleaded for another parcel of green belt land to also be saved from the bulldozers.
Watch more of our videos on Shots! 
and live on Freeview channel 276
Visit Shots! now

Amy Lee has called for land adjacent to the developments at Broomhill Farm to be saved as it is home to wildlife and native wildflower species.

The site is pinpointed in the same local plan as the controversial Whyburn Farm proposals and is for 600-plus houses.

The site has already been extensively developed in places with phase one of the plan complete and phase two ongoing.

Amy Lee says the area is a haven for local wildlife and wildflowers. Photo: GoogleAmy Lee says the area is a haven for local wildlife and wildflowers. Photo: Google
Amy Lee says the area is a haven for local wildlife and wildflowers. Photo: Google

But the potential phase three site of the plan, between the phase two site and the A611 Nottingham Road and Farley’s Lane, has so far remained untouched.

Back in 2020, Amy wrote to the council asking whether the potential phase three site was being looked at for development and was told that it was not due to being green belt.

But Amy says the site is one of proposed locations in the new draft local plan, meaning it would be be under consideration for development in the future.

She said: “It’s almost like a nature reserve now, it’s been left to re-wild for the last couple of decades, so there’s owls, bats, badgers, deer and plenty of birds and so on all living there now.

"And I’m worried the council essentially just wants to destroy the entire site.

"People use the area for walks and there is some native wildflower habitat there – when I walked round there in the summer, I saw several different wildflowers and some of those are good natural indicators of it being a good wildflower site because it’s been left so long to re-wild.”

Coun Jason Zadrozny (Ash Ind), the district council leader, said: “It is important to remember that like every other Ashfield site, this is part of a local plan which is only in draft and is therefore not finalised.

"We are currently out for public consultation on the plan and encourage as many people to have their say as possible via the consultation.

“A cross party group including members from all parties and wards sat as part of the local plan working group to pull this draft local plan together.

“The council has been set a target of over 8,000 houses over the duration of the plan – equal to 457 per year.

"The government sets these housing numbers as well as very strict criteria including proof that the houses are deliverable within the timeframe.

“Following the recent announcement from the Prime Minister regarding not building on greenfield land, myself and Coun Matthew Relf, portfolio holder for regeneration and planning, have written to the government to seek further clarification on what these changes mean and what is therefore allowed as part of this local plan.

"We would welcome this news as it would presumably mean our targets would decrease, given we have already included every brownfield site possible in the current draft plan.”

To view and have your say on the draft local plan, click here.

Related topics: