All 82 homes planned on land beside the former Oakwell Brickworks in Ilkeston will be offered for social rent or shared ownership, it has been confirmed.
Nottingham Community Housing Association, known as NCHA, has purchased the land off Derby Road and appointed Morro Partnerships to build the development.
The housing association has told Ilkeston News that 58 of the homes will be for social rent and the remaining 24 will be offered through shared ownership. None will be available for outright sale on the open market.
Social-rent homes are rented from a housing association, with rents calculated using government rules. Shared ownership allows people to buy part of a property and pay rent on the remaining share.
The confirmation reveals a very different housing mix from the one residents may have expected when the development was approved in January.
Councillors approved the demolition of 195 Derby Road and the construction of 82 homes, along with new roads, parking, drainage and landscaping.
The agreement presented as part of the approval secured 12 two-bedroom affordable homes. These were to comprise four homes for social rent, four for affordable rent and four for shared ownership.
The remaining 70 homes were not required by that agreement to be affordable housing, and the public documents did not suggest that the entire development would ultimately be delivered by a housing association.
One of the transport documents submitted with the application calculated the likely number of vehicle journeys by comparing the development with privately owned housing sites. Although that did not determine how the Oakwell properties had to be sold or rented, it added to the public impression that most of the homes would be privately owned.
NCHA says it has since purchased the land and will own and manage the development.
The news is the latest development in a long-running and controversial planning story.
Residents spent months questioning whether the land was suitable for housing because of its proximity to the former Oakwell Brickworks and the wider area’s industrial history.
Concerns were raised about possible contamination, historic coal mining, drainage, wildlife, traffic on Derby Road and additional pressure on schools, doctors and other local services.
Planning officers told the committee that the land where the homes would be built had previously been used as a field and was not part of the working brickworks.
Investigations submitted with the application did not find evidence of waste or contamination above expected levels across the main housing area. However, further testing was required in parts of the site closest to the former brickworks and around the proposed drainage pond.
The plans were approved subject to conditions covering ground investigations, coal-mining risks, drainage and wildlife protection.
Financial contributions were also secured for Field House Infant School, Ormiston Ilkeston Enterprise Academy, local healthcare services and Ilkeston Library.
NCHA says Erewash Borough Council has been informed about its involvement in the development.
The housing association says the original affordable-housing agreement does not need to be changed because the 12 homes included in it were a minimum requirement.
There will be no change to the number or design of the homes, the layout of the development or the access from Derby Road.
The approved development contains 35 two-bedroom homes, 45 three-bedroom homes and two four-bedroom properties.
Councillor Andrew Prince, who was the only member of the Planning Committee to vote against the application, said he was concerned that the development would no longer contain any homes for outright sale.
He said: “We need social-rented and shared-ownership homes, but on a development of this size I think there should be a genuine housing mix: homes to buy, homes to rent and shared ownership, with people and families at different stages of their lives living alongside one another.”
The development will be funded through a combination of a Homes England grant and NCHA’s own borrowing and reserves.
NCHA has not disclosed how much public grant funding has been allocated to the Ilkeston scheme or how much it paid for the land.
The 58 social-rent homes are expected to be allocated through the local authority housing register. Details of how the 24 shared-ownership properties will be marketed have not yet been announced.
The first homes are expected to be ready in early 2028.