Policy for colliery houses
A policy to try to prevent traditional colliery houses being converted into flats has been adopted by Ollerton and Boughton Town Council.
Members of the planning committee agreed the wording of the policy.
It will now be submitted to Newark and Sherwood District Council.
The town council is concerned about the increasing number of applications to convert the homes.
It has concerns about the adverse impact it would have on neighbouring properties, and that it would change the character of the area.
It is hoped the district council will be guided by the policy when deciding planning applications.
The committee chairman, Mr Ben Wells, who voted against submitting the document now, said district council officers had requested the policy was not submitted until the results of three planning appeals were known.
Mr Wells said one inspector was due to consider the appeals against the district council’s refusal to grant permission to convert houses in Ollerton and Boughton into flats.
Mr Wells said the committee might want to amend the policy depending on what the inspector said in his report.
He said: “I would not want to miss something for the sake of a few weeks.”
Mr Ray Shilling said the policy needed to be in place as quickly as possible.
He congratulated the clerk, Mrs Christine Leivers, for the work she had done on it.
Mr Jason Ferguson said: “We need a policy. This has been going on a long time.
“We need to adopt it to test it.”
The policy is based on a set of minimum standards.
It would not allow houses below a certain size to be converted into flats, but larger properties could be converted.