Forge Mill Nottingham

Forge Mill

April 2025

Thank You Bestwood Village

It was a pleasure and privilege to meet a significant number of Bestwood Village residents at our Open Day on April 22nd. Thank you to those who came to meet us or who got in touch through the online feedback form.

Your Concerns

The main reason we created this website and organised the Open Day was to listen to local residents' concerns, from which we could then amend and adjust our plans to ensure maximum satisfaction and benefit for the community of Bestwood Village. Thank you to everyone who has helpfully shared their concerns and entered into meaningful dialogue with us, it has been hugely helpful.

What has become apparent to both us and many local residents is that there needs to be stringent measures in place to ensure that, if part of the Forge Mill is granted residential status through our planning application, there would be no way that the residence could be subsequently converted into an House in Multiple Occupancy (HMO). An HMO is a dwelling where multiple individuals are living in the same property, sharing facilities, and where these individuals comprise of more than one household, and/or the residents have separate tenancy agreements. Examples of this include supported living, student accommodation and housing for prison-leavers. As the government legislation definition of an HMO states, this 'excludes situations where a single family or group of people living together in the same property share all facilities'. According to this definition, it has never been our intention to create an HMO but rather to be one household, but we completely understand the concern that the Forge Mill may be used in such a way in the future, regardless of our intentions not to.

May 2025

Changes We Have Made

To this end, in order to address and resolve this legitimate concern, we have committed to the following changes:

1) We have reduced the size of the household so that our planning application is for a Class C3 (c) dwelling, the definition of which is below, along with a link to the relevant legislation. This means that, if planning is granted, we can only establish a dwelling that is not an HMO (as defined above), and that the single household has no more than six individuals in permanent residence in the dwelling. We have made substantial changes to the designs, therefore, and you can view the new floor plans on the 'Plans' page.

Class C3.

Use as a dwellinghouse (as a sole or main residence and occupied for more than 183 days in a calendar year) by:

(a) a single person or by people to be regarded as forming a single household;

(b) not more than six residents living together as a single household where care is provided for residents; or

(other than a use within Class C4).

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1987/764/schedule/part/C

NB: Our application will also include a small single, self-contained ground floor dwelling for an individual with mobility or access needs, hence the design is tailored to allow for easy wheelchair movement and an accessible wet room facility. Again, this will be just a C3 dwelling. You can view this amendment on our 'Plans' page.

2) This planning application will include a clause that will forbid the conversion of the residential part of Forge Mill into an HMO, as defined above, i.e. the building cannot be converted for use as a halfway house, for example. This will be an intrinsic part of the planning permission, if it is granted, and so this stipulation is attached to the property and is indefinite (as opposed to the lease - see point 3 below).

3) We understand that the fears relating to a short lease are that Forge Mill may change hands and be converted into supported housing for prison leavers, as was attempted in the past. To allay these fears we have negotiated a 99-year lease, giving full control to Phil Bryon, and it will be Phil Bryon's household residing in the 6-person dwelling.

PLEASE NOTE:

Points 1) and 2) are not dependent on or connected to the lease described in point 3), but are bound to the property itself.

June 2025

Pre-Planning Application to Ashfield District Council

We submitted our pre-planning application to Ashfield Council at the start of this summer. We will then make any necessary changes to the plans before submitting the full planning application, which we hope to do before the end of the summer, depending on how swiftly we can obtain required surveys and reports from specialists and consultants.

September 2025

Pre-Planning Application Response from Ashfield DC

We have now received the formal report from Ashfield District Council, in response to the Pre-Planning Application we made back in June. They have been very helpful and informative, meeting us on site and taking a thorough look at the building, including internally, so that they are fully aware of what currently exists, including previously un-permitted works, which they have understandably asked us to address and rectify. An overview of the areas they want us to address in preparation for our full planning application is as follows:

Heritage & Unauthorised Works – The Council is clear that all previous unlawful works must be rectified or fully justified. A detailed Heritage Impact Assessment will be required, showing how the proposals conserve and enhance the listed building.

Green Belt – Elements of the plans that fall within the greenbelt and which may cause harm to openness must be fully justified.

Design & Internal Layout – The Council recommends minimising subdivision of the second floor to retain the open-plan character of the historic mill. However, previous applications for Forge Mill have acknowledged the principle of residential use, and in this context, some subdivision is necessary to provide viable and functional accommodation.

Highways & Parking – A Transport Statement will be needed to justify any car parking shortfall and explain how parking will be allocated between uses. Improvements to the car park access (e.g. dropped kerb) will also be required.

Flood Risk & Drainage – The site lies in Flood Zones 2 and 3, so a full Flood Risk Assessment is needed, along with a Sustainable Drainage Strategy.

Ecology & BNG – A Phase II bat survey will be required, as will a Biodiversity Net Gain calculation using the DEFRA small sites metric (showing 10% net gain or exemption). Incorporating enhancements such as bat/bird boxes, bee bricks, and habitat planting will be encouraged.

Noise – The café and function space will require a noise assessment to address any potential disturbance to nearby residents. This is particularly relevant if evening events are anticipated.

Next steps we are currently working on are:

Commissioning the necessary technical reports: Heritage Impact Assessment, Flood Risk Assessment, Transport Statement, Ecology surveys
Reviewing and amending access arrangements, parking provision, and external works to reduce heritage and Green Belt impact
Preparing a clear strategy to address heritage enforcement issues, particularly the reinstatement works

Ongoing

We will, of course, continue to update this website at every stage. We encourage everyone to engage with the planning process, and look forward to any further dialogue with the Bestwood Village community via appropriate channels.

As always, we are available to connect with any local resident who has questions or queries. We are posting a link to this website on a few relevant Facebook Groups, but we will only respond to queries that come through the Feedback Form on our website, to ensure all our communication is professional and through appropriate channels. We will then gladly respond to enquiries within 24-48 hours. Phil Bryon will also continue to be present at a number of Parish Council meetings over the coming months, where he is very keen and happy to meet people face to face and discuss anything in person.

We are so grateful to Bestwood Village for their warmth, interest, and for

sharing their concerns and ideas with us so openly.

Thank you