Land between Styring Street and Station Road, Beeston

Over many months Beeston Civic Society have, with other concerned people and groups, led a campaign to stop the site being developed by student flat specialist Cassidy Group. They applied to deliver a 29-metre high, eight-storey block of 419 student beds. Previously the site had been given permission for development of ‘an iconic building on a gateway into the town’ consisting of 132 one and two bedroom flats, with some retail, parking and landscaping.

The campaign had been seen to be successful when Broxtowe Borough Council’s planning committee unanimously rejected Cassidy’s application. The developers, as is their right, appealed against this decision and we expected local democracy would prevail in the appeal.
However this has not been the case and the independent examiner, appointed by the national planning inspectorate, found in favour of the developer.
Since then there has been further initiatives to get the decision of the examiner reversed. This has included

  • letters and meetings with our MP, who in turn arranged a further meeting with the Leader of our Council and Ministry officials.
  • letters to the Minister of State.

“I am sorry to hear you are concerned about this decision and I note you ask that the decision is overturned. Firstly, I must explain that the decision, issued on 9 May 2023, is a legal document.
The only way a decision can be reviewed is if it is successfully challenged in the High Court on a point of law. Under these statutory provisions, if successful, the decision is overturned, and the appeal reconsidered. A challenge must be made within six weeks of the decision date. Unless there is a successful challenge, the decision is final.
The Secretary of State does have reserve powers to revoke a grant of planning permission, under section 100 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990. However, this should not be considered a substitute for the statutory right of challenge, referred to above. These powers have only been used vary rarely, in cases where there are likely to be significant adverse consequences for the wider (national) public interest. For the avoidance of doubt, in this context the Secretary of State will not be revoking this appeal decision“.

Response from Inspectorate to one of our member’s enquiry.

The inspector’s decision seems to have

  • ignored the role of Council planning committees if democratically elected councillors
    representing the local population cannot prevent unwanted development in the centre of our
    main town.
  • been weighted in favour of the need for student accommodation, which we believe is not
    proven, rather than the need for more affordable homes for local people.
  • overlooked of the local need for an iconic building and gateway into the town rather than an
    uninspiring block of one-bedroom cells.

Clearly, we are not satisfied with the Inspector’s decision but the Ministry’s response and the cost of pursuing the legal process to challenge the examiner’s decision means we cannot continue lobbying the Ministry or local Council.

What now?
We are taking a continuing interest in the site. Cassidy Group can progress on site as soon as they want or are able. However ‘new events’ may impact the development, for example many sites with planning permissions are not being progressed because of rises in the cost of borrowing and building materials so offering a changed investment return for developers and a cost barrier to meeting all the conditions set by the examiner.

Presently we will continue to scrutinise the developer’s progress, ensure the Inspector’s decisions are implemented and be reactive to any ‘new events’ on this development.

GSW