Nottingham City Council has confirmed that it is moving its departments onto one site in Station Street, by Nottingham Station and the tram terminus. This is a sensible decision. It also means that The Sandfield Centre site and other City Council sites nearby will be up for grabs. This linked to the fact that the future of the Lenton high-rise flats is an issue which as yet to be resolved and there will never be a better time than NOW to start a grass-roots consultation into how this corridor of land from Ilkeston Road down to Castle Boulevard could be developed in a way which creates more homes for long-term local residents, especially families, older people and key workers, especially if, in the process, we create the kind of eco-friendly, ‘balanced and sustainable’ community Nottingham City Council is so fond of talking about.

The Sandfield Centre from Lenton Boulevard — one large development site. Will Nottingham City Council use it to improve the lives of local residents or to line the pockets of a property developer?

The map on the right shows just how many development sites there are in the Lenton and Dunkirk area, existing and potential. Some will upset local residents because they don’t want to think the unthinkable. The brutal truth is that in the past year the City Council has made major decisions about our area without any prior consultation. They will quite happily do it again and again if we let them! Below are some brief notes about each of the identified locations:

1. 1.Ilkeston Road industrial units, across from north entrance to Radford Recreation Ground. ‘To let’ signs have been up forever. Re-zone for housing?
   

2. 2.Radford Recreation Ground is an under-used park because its layout. Has a small pavilion. Use some of it for housing which will overlook the Park and extend it southwards into a redeveloped Sandfield Centre site, so that it becomes more user friendly.
   

3. 3.West side of Lenton Boulevard has Council offices at junction with Ilkeston Road and owns the run-down ex-Raleigh offices building. In between is a long vacant garage site, as well as a church and the Radford and Lenton Branch Library.
   

4. 4.Sandfield Centre site. See No.6 entry.
   

5. 5.Derby Road garage site with planning permission for flats and a mini-supermarket.
   

6. 6.Lenton high-rise flats have been the subject of a consultant’s report, which has yet to be made public. If the cost of refurbishment is too high or not advisable for some reason, the City Council will probably have sell them for a nominal amount of money. Redevelop the Sandfield Centre site first, then you can relocate local residents as part of a properly planned redevelopment.
   

7. 7.Church Square Precinct, The Lenton Centre cluster of well used community facilities, including Thomas Helwys Baptist Church and Edna G Olds Primary School.
   

8. 8.Disused factories on Prospect Place have been empty for a long time. Redevelop as housing.
   

9. 9.MFI retail unit. The old collection store to the west of the main unit has planning permission for conversion to a church.
   

10. 10.Lenton Primary School site has been empty for over a year. We understand the City Council own the adjacent retail units. Ideal for housing as part of overall plan.
    

11. 11.Hillside Social Club and playing field. The club closed in June 2009 and the playing field has been unused for years, except for bowling green at southern end, which is due to close. At the southern end is the large Bell’s car park. Taken together, a prime location for QMC expansion.
    

12. 12.QMC multi-storey car park demolished in 2009 after being declared ‘unsafe’. QMC have cleared the site — which would provide access to Hillside site across Hillside footpath and River Leen.
    

13. 13.The Monty Hind Centre and youth club is owned by the City Council and not in the best location and overlooks planned Medi-Park. Seems logical to sell site and relocate in part of area where most young people now live.
    

14. 14.Nottingham Medi-Park site which will be developed in up to six phases over a number of years. City Council a partner.
    

15. 15.Lenton Priory is a Scheduled Ancient Monument which the City Council promised to protect, but has since sold property and given planning permission for housing on the site.
    

16. 16.Ex-Dunkirk Fire Station sold by Nottingham City Council to a developer, who plans to build high-rise accommodation for at least 550 students, but could be as many as 700.
    

17. 17.Dunkirk Primary School playing field landlocked by Fire Station development according to draft plans. Could eventually be sold for more student homes, despite claims that that this won’t happen.
    

18. 18.Dunkirk & Old Lenton Community Centre is a prime development location and owned by the City Council. It is also an important community asset, together with nearby Dunkirk Primary School and Childrens’ Centre.

In addition to the numbered development locations, there are a some smaller development sites, most of which I have shown, but I have left some off (eg. a closed garage on Abbey Bridge, now used for car washing and valeting, and some small housing plots).

What I believe my ‘State of Lenton’ map and this supporting text show is that the case for a detailed community plan is overwhelming and this what of a number of local residents have been saying for the past few years. I suspect no other part of Nottingham has been subject to kind of piecemeal development we are seeing in Dunkirk and Lenton, with the City Council being a leading player!

All the evidence to date strongly suggests that the City Council has no intention of consulting with local groups and residents about the creation of a ‘plan’ of any kind. Talk of a ‘Neighbourhood Transformation Plan’ has come to nothing, despite some off the record meetings.

In the circumstances, local residents have to demand NOW that no City Council owned land in Dunkirk and Lenton will be sold until such time has there is a comprehensive ‘Local Plan’ in place.

Dunkirk and Lenton residents should be able to have some faith on their Area 8 representatives, but as I understand it, the future of The Sandfield Centre site was not mentioned at the Area 8 Committee Meeting in September 2009.

Other issues and opportunities

All this is about so much more — the possibility of building more housing for families and older residents, creating a ‘green zone’, so that we can own and generate our own power using renewable sources, such as solar power and ground heating pumps etc.

It’s about creating a 21st century community whilst protecting and conserving the best of our environment by valuing our two existing conservation areas and identifying other local neighbourhoods we might like to protect and conserve.

This is a big challenge. I simply do not have the time to say all that I would like to say. I do believe this is ‘make or break’ time for Lenton and I sincerely hope that other neighbourhoods close by will want to be party to any work and consultations that are needed to make these happen.

We need to challenge all the local political parties to say where they stand when it comes to the future of Lenton. For my part, I believe all these things taken together suggest that we will only be listened to and considered if we take the necessary steps to create our own, statutory, directly elected ‘Lenton Community Council’ with powers to run some local services, but above all to put Nottingham City Council into the position where it HAS to consult local residents over ALL planning matters.

Robert Howard

13 September 2009.

City Council decision provides a now or never chance to shape a 21st century Lenton

This page and map were first published online in January 2009, when I took a printed version of this page to a Lenton community meeting organised by Dunkirk and Lenton Partnership Forum. In fifteen months not a lot has changed.