Housing to replace cricket and football pitches despite fear it will 'destroy' club

A TOTAL of 130 homes will be built on football and cricket pitches after councillors gave plans the green light.

- By JOSEPH CONNOLLY

The West Bridgford site with its current sports facilities

The Lido Ground, in Clipstone, plays host to a number of clubs, including Clipstone FC, who have called the site theirs for more than 50 years, and Clipstone Cricket Club, which has developed players for Nottinghamshire at county level.

They will now have to relocate to a proposed purpose-built replacement facility a mile down the road at Clipstone Colliery, which was granted planning permission in late 2023.

But construction work on the new housing development - which is a project of the Welbeck Estate - will not take place until the facilities at the Colliery are fully in use.

If, for whatever reason, the building of the new facilities at the colliery is not completed, the Lido ground development would not be allowed to go ahead without the submission of a new application.

The major proposal was brought before Mansfield District Council’s planning committee on Tuesday, more than two years after plans were first tabled.

Planning officers, who have assessed the proposals over that time, told councillors on the committee that they considered 130 homes on the 50,000 square metre site to be acceptable.

The application is only an “outline” application - meaning exact details on aspects such as housing types and layout has not yet been decided, and that a more detailed planning application must be submitted in the future.