New housing estate for old quarry finally agreed after 10 years

A new housing estate has been given permission to be built at the site of an old quarry after nearly 10 years of discussions.

Gregory Quarry in Mansfield, which lent its name to the nearby Quarry Lane in the town, closed in the mid-2000s and has been the subject of a number of planning applications to construct homes in its place since 2017.

The most recent plans for 64 houses and 53 apartments were submitted to Mansfield District Council earlier this year.

That was a reduction from the original 2017 plans, which were for 204 homes in the area and were rejected by the council and later by the government’s planning bosses after an appeal.

Mansfield’s planning committee met on Monday, October 12 ,to discuss the latest iteration.

The latest version of the plans included the demolition of the property at 2 Garth Road, off the A60 Nottingham Road, to allow for a new access road into the estate.

Previously, developers had wanted the estate to be accessed from Quarry Lane on the other side of the Quarry Lane Nature Reserve, but more than 300 members of the public objected to the plans at that stage, many out of concern for how they could affect the reserve.

Ward councillor Stephen North (Lab) told the committee he supported the application.

He said: “Gregory Quarry is far more than a strip of land. It is one of the places that helped shape Mansfield into the town we know today.

“I support this application because it offers credible, practical and deliverable opportunity to address long-stranding problems and bring the site back into safe residential use.”

The quarry had become notorious in recent years for anti-social behaviour such as rough sleeping and fires being lit due to its isolation and limited visibility, with some incidents requiring police attendance.

Agent Will Rogers said: “(The quarry) has now stood vacant for many years. This application offers a realistic opportunity to bring it back into positive use.

“It has been carefully designed around the site’s environmental constraints – nature reserve, local green space and biodiversity interests protected. The scheme now presents a well-considered and deliverable approach to the regeneration of the site, providing much-needed new housing.”

Councillors on the committee, however, raised numerous concerns – specifically over traffic around Nottingham Road.

Labour councillor Rich Tempest-Mitchell highlighted data that suggests drivers wait for more than two minutes to get out of certain junctions.

He said this often resulted in them becoming frustrated and pulling out, saying the situation was “dangerous”.

He said: “I can’t believe Nottinghamshire county councillors haven’t brought this up and said: ‘Clearly this junction is already dangerous. Adding more traffic to it is clearly going to make it worse’. That’s just common sense. It’s dangerous already.”

But Labour councillor Jack Stevenson said: “I am in support of this. It’s good to see it’s going to see some use. I look forward to it being completed and getting some extra additional land for the nature reserve.”

Gregory Quarry was mined for more than 200 years.

Stone harvested from the rock was used to build Mansfield’s town wall and for dry stone walls that line footpaths in the area.

For the latest plans for the site, a “slope stability assessment” was completed to assess how dangerous the quarry’s cliff face was.

Council staff added a condition to the plans that developers must ensure that properties which are closest to the quarry’s cliff face be designed and engineered to specific requirements.

This was to ensure that the layout “doesn’t pose any sort of safety risks or risks of, effectively, the quarry collapsing into their back garden”.

A housing estate built in another old quarry in Mansfield – Berry Hill – was affected by landslides in 2019 and 2020 which led to residents being evacuated and properties being damaged.

Councillors voted in favour of the plans by 7 to 1.