Housing Development
The finalised plans for the housing development have not been made available but the Nottingham Evening Post on 21st October 2009 reported the plans that it had seen. Despite repeated requests by Rushcliffe residents the plans have not been released to the public.
The Evening Post reported that 4,500 houses and a £100m 45,000 seater stadium will be in the planning submission.
The submission will include:
• The development of 4,500 homes, two primary schools, a secondary school and a district shopping centre.
• A £100m stadium with capacity for 45,000 fans which would be the cornerstone of Nottingham's World Cup bid.
• Three community parks plus parks and community sports facilities.
• Realignment of the A52 and duelling of the Ling's Bar Road.
A key part of this proposal is the plan to build 4,500 houses. This has been presented as a Sustainable Urban Extension despite the independent findings of the Tribal Urban Solutions Report. The report was commissioned by all the local councils in the Greater Nottingham area and carried out by Tribal Urban Solution independent planning consultants. The consultants looked at the whole Greater Nottingham area and have identified a number of possible locations for housing development, setting out the pros and cons of each site. The study recommends that some areas are ruled out for reasons such as environmental sensitivity, heritage, risk of flooding and transport and congestion. The report recommends that area East of Gamston is judged to be unsuitable for development. See our documentation page for details of how to locate this report so that you can see for yourself.
The plans also detail diverting the A52, cutting out the traffic island near The Bridge at Gamston pub plus two other junctions and then rejoining the existing A52 close to Ling's Bar Hospital and the Goose at Gamston pub. The turning for West Bridgford was described as becoming a 'motorway style' junction which would be relocated to Ling's Bar.
Baffling though it may seem the promoters of the scheme say this will 'ease congestion' and 'mitigate the impact' of the development. Without an extra River Trent crossing it is difficult to imagine how the development will do anything other than channel, albeit effectively, even more traffic onto already heavily congested routes. Anyone that has to use the A52 into Nottingham, or cross the Lady Bay Bridge, during rush hour will be able to imagine the extra impact this development will have.
Factoring in extra traffic during any event at the proposed stadium will surely bring our insufficient transport infrastructure to complete over-load. This will be extremely frustrating for any residents in the area
Anyone using the A52 during rush hour must also remember that the planned Sharphill Woods housing development will be adding more traffic to the A52 as it is.