'Precious and beautiful green space will be concreted over'

LEADING TORY SMITH 'HORRIFIED AND DISGUSTED' BY RETURN OF BIG HOUSING PLANS

- By LAUREN MONAGHAN

“OUR precious and beautiful green space and countryside will be concreted over.” That's the view of Conservative Councillor Sam Smith (pictured below), who represents the Trent Valley ward on Gedling Borough Council and has fought to preserve green fields in Stoke Bardolph.

In 2022, more than 1,000 people signed a petition to protect Stoke Bardolph’s green belt land, with support from Tory councillors Smith and Mike Adams.

Fears of flooding and the loss of green space were among reasons why the land was removed from the borough council's local development plan, which identifies sites for future housing.

But now the area is back under the spotlight of a draft new council development plan - and Councillor Smith says he is “horrified and disgusted”.

The fields, which surround a power substation, are off the A612 Colwick Loop Road and at the back of Persimmon Homes’ Bardolph View development in Magenta Way, with the land provisionally again allocated for future housing under the borough council’s new draft local plan.

Bardolph View is part of the wider Rivendell development, between Netherfield and Stoke Bardolph, where, in its current form, up to 800 homes are expected to be built.