Park plan to protect D.H. Lawrence countryside

D.H. Lawrence's work was influenced by his childhood in Eastwood

A new country park could be created to stave off developers eyeing up green belt land on the edge of Nottingham.

Broxtowe Borough Council leader Milan Radulovic wants to create a public open space between Eastwood and Brinsley.

The area would be named after novelist D.H. Lawrence, who was born in Eastwood.

Mr Radulovic said the scheme would help "protect the green belt from predatory development" in response to a question from Bramcote councillor David Watts.

Mr Watts, speaking at a full meeting of the borough council on 9 October, cited developer Bloor Homes' expression of interest in building up to 700 homes on green space on either side of the A52 in Toton.

Mr Radulovic said it felt like the green belt had become "a green noose" that was steadily tightening.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service said nature and creeping industrialisation were a strong theme in D.H. Lawrence's work, influenced by his childhood in the area.

Green fields to the north of Eastwood could be protected by a country park, said the council's leader

Mr Radulovic said: "If you look towards Derby, the city has been allowed to sprawl – that's what we don't want to happen.

"We will do all we can – especially in the north of the borough where we are most vulnerable – to stop green belt encroachment."

The green belt was established more than 70 years ago to stop the spread of urbanisation across the UK and covers large parts of the Nottinghamshire countryside.

It is harder to have planning applications approved in these areas.

But the new Labour government has made housebuilding a major priority and is proposing "poor quality and ugly" areas of the green belt be made available for development.