Mansfield estate revamp plans get the green light
IMPROVEMENTS TO THE AREA WILL INCLUDE 22 COUNCIL HOMES AND A NEW ROAD
PLANS almost eight years in the making to redevelop the “community heart” of the Bellamy Road estate in Mansfield have taken a major step forward.
Proposals to revamp the area were initially put forward in 2013, including plans to demolish flats and old shops in favour of a “village green”, housing and refurbished community facilities.
Mansfield District Council pushed forward before the plans were put on hold due to financial issues surrounding rent income.
It meant the council was unable to generate the money for the scheme, setting a planned capital budget of £5 million.
However, the authority now plans to send the budget for approval by councillors at the end of the month.
Once it is passed, the authority will submit a formal planning application and aim to begin construction this year.
The proposals have been through consultation with residents’ groups and the community.
There would also be a new road – with an amended bus route – built through the centre of the estate and, eventually, a new shop.
In the report, the council said the plans will regenerate a “neglected estate centre”.
The council’s report says: “The masterplan was prepared to address the physical and socio-economic constraints within the estate and its aim was to create a more inclusive and sustainable community where residents chose to live, bring up their children and enjoy a better quality of life.
“The proposals will provide 22 new councilowned family houses as well creating a ‘village green’ with an equipped play area, children’s cycle path, seating, a new shop and premises, new CCTV provision, fruit trees for a community orchard and raised beds.
“Key to the development is a new, traffic-calmed road joining Thorpe Road and Egmanton Road, which will allow for a revised bus route that will go through the centre of the estate.
“This will reduce the need for those residents living in the centre to have to walk to the outer road for the bus service.”
The new homes comprise three fourbedroom properties, eight three-bedroom homes and 11 two-bed houses.
The proposals for the development have been welcomed by a spokesperson for the estate’s community group.
However, doubts have been cast over some of the plans and the delay to the scheme.
Kerri Daft, who recently led objections to a nearby housing development, told the Post: “Without a shadow of doubt we need it redeveloping. “The whole estate needs it, though. “Parking putting in, rubbish bins on here, drop kerbs for the disabled. So much stuff needs doing on here.”
And she added: “But the idea of a road going straight past the park seems stupid when they could have put housing facing the park and the road behind.
“It just makes sense to put the new housing where the road is proposed to go and the road where the houses are to go. I think we will be lucky to get a shop – there was talk about running a community shop.”
Mansfield District Council says that it hopes to begin construction work in the estate by around October or November.