Affordable housing plan for disused land

The purchase of the site is dependent on planning permission being granted

Dozens of new affordable homes could be built on disused land in Nottinghamshire.

Ashfield District Council wants to build 70 properties on a 19-acre site off Southwell Lane in Kirkby-in-Ashfield.

The purchase of the land, which was originally railway sidings, is dependent on planning permission being granted for the housing scheme.

If approved, the site would be bought with money from developers building houses nearby, and the authority hopes to secure funding from Homes England to pay for the new development.

The purchase of the land would include a woodland and butterfly meadow, which would be maintained by the authority.

Tom Hollis, executive lead member for strategic housing and climate change, said: "This new development will be our largest to date and see disused land brought back into use for housing, in the heart of Kirkby."

The council said the cost of building the homes would be paid back over 40 years from rents received.

There are more than 4,400 people currently on the council's housing waiting list, it confirmed.

This comes just days after the authority approved two projects, totalling more than 450 homes, on Hamilton Road in Sutton and Beck Lane in Skegby.