At the beginning of 2007 we were told by the Government Office for the East Midlands (GOEM) to delay any further work on the Area Action Plan. This was because we needed to write our main planning policy document, called our ‘Core Strategy’ first. We are now writing our Core Strategy and have not worked any more on the Action Plan. The Action Plan is not adopted as Council policy and therefore has no status. Also, because of the reasons set out below, we will now not carry on with the Action Plan.
Ownership of the site
In the summer of 2007, St Gobain told us that they were proposing to sell all of their land on the site, with some loss of jobs in the local area. With this news, we were very concerned about the future of the site and knew that we had to work with whoever bought the site, to ensure that we had a say in what they were going to develop on it. The land now available for redevelopment had increased to almost 500 acres. That’s 277 average sized football pitches!
‘Discussions took place during 2007 and 2008 with a couple of developers about buying the land. One of these companies called Spring Urban Regeneration, carried out a week long consultation exercise which they called a ‘Design Enquiry Week’ in June 2008, to talk about options for the site. This included talking about what type of development should go on the site, how it should look and whether a new road was needed. At the end of this Spring Urban Regeneration produced a newsletter summarising the outcomes of the discussions. The newsletter included a map showing the five road routes being considered.
Saint Gobain, the owners of the Stanton site are now progressing proposals for the site.
We have no ownership control over any of the land within the Stanton site and therefore we are working with the owners to make sure that we have a say on how the site is developed.
Planning permission
The Stanton site can only be redeveloped if it gets planning permission. St Gobain have told us that they plan to submit an outline planning application for the development of the land by March 2010.
Any planning application submitted will be considered by our Planning Committee. Details of how the planning process operates can be found by following this link to Development Control.
Road Access Options
One of the most contentious aspects of developing the Stanton site is about access to and from the site, specifically by road.
Consultants working for St Gobain are currently carrying out a detailed technical highway study. They are doing this in conjunction with the Highways Agency, Derbyshire County Council, Nottinghamshire County Council and Broxtowe Borough Council and ourselves.
This is being done to find out which of the five road options being considered, if any, is the best option for the site by considering community needs, our economy and our environment. We expect the consultants will publish the study in spring 2009.
It is our duty to consider all the road options, even those that are controversial. This is to ensure that we have both the evidence and justification in place when we make the final decision. We have never said that we support a specific road solution to access the Stanton site.
Map showing the road options being considered
