Homes a help with business

Businesses in Newark should be able to benefit from plans that could mean up to 5,000 new homes are built on the edge of the town, a meeting of Newark Business Club was told on Friday.

Mr Steff Wright from Gusto Construction outlined the conclusions of members who looked into the planned expansion after a presentation by Mr Gabriel Abulafia, a director of the consultancy involved with the project, at the January meeting.

Newark and Sherwood District Council has been chosen as a growth point area by the government, which could lead to 5,000 new homes being built on land south of Newark.

Mr Wright said that along with the new homes they needed new employment, which would help to raise the skills and salaries in the town.

He said they wanted a mixture of house designs to suit a range of people and not just smaller homes.

Members also thought roads and railways must be upgraded to cope with the increase in traffic and education, health and leisure facilities must be provided.

He said the flood defence strategy also needed to be improved and a long-term marketing campaign would be needed to attract high value businesses and people to the area.

Mr Wright said that it was important that rural areas were not ignored as some of the people moving to the area as a result of the new development would want to live in the villages.

“Newark businesses should be able to benefit from these developments,” he said.

“Such is the scale and the importance being set by the vision for the growth of Newark.”

He said there should be a positive response in support of the idea but it was important there was a clear vision about the benefits.

The MP for Newark, Mr Patrick Mercer, said that education provision needed to be a bullet point in its own right.

County councillor Mr Keith Girling said they had recognised that education had been poor in Newark for many years and they needed to see what they could do to help.

Mrs Cait Mercer asked if the plans were big enough to warrant a national campaign to encourage people to come to the area similar to that used to attract people to Milton Keynes.

Mr Wright said there were many innovative ways that Newark could promote itself.

“It is important that the local community work together and put Newark on the map,” he said.

It is hoped that a planning application will be ready to be submitted to the district council by the summer but it would probably be a year before a decision is made and two years before any work starts.

The development would continue for ten to 20 years.