Crunch meeting over sale of would-be Derbyshire nature reserve adjourned due to number of protestors

Erewash Borough Council hosted a meeting to decide the future of a seven-acre chunk of the former Pewit Golf Course, off West End Drive in Ilkeston. This followed the Conservative opposition group “calling in” the matter, following a decision from the ruling Labour executive group of councillors.

However, the council’s Ilkeston headquarters had insufficient space for the number of protesting residents who sought to attend the meeting on Thursday night, with just 18 seats in the public gallery. Space was made for 40 further residents in the Mayor’s parlour and an audio link was set up in haste. This still left around 30 people outside on a dark, drizzly night on Ilkeston marketplace.

The meeting lasted for around 15 minutes until councillors were repeatedly made aware that the audio link in the Mayor’s parlour was not reliable. A total of 12 people were then moved into the council chamber itself in the vacant councillor seats, but this was also found to be insufficient.

After an adjournment to discuss options, scrutiny committee chair, Cllr Pam Phillips, announced that the meeting would be adjourned to a later date, time and venue. The meeting to discuss West End Drive will now take place on Wednesday, February 21, at 7pm in the council’s second headquarters in Long Eaton.

This did not go down well with the attending residents – those of which could hear the announcement – with one campaigner claiming this was an attempt to hold the meeting as far away from the affected areas as possible.

The Long Eaton HQ has space for around 180 people, with some in the public gallery and rest in an overflow room, where an audio link would be set up. The council does not have the live-streaming capabilities it required during the pandemic, with that arrangement being a temporary lease.

Cllr Phillips banged her gavel on two occasions in a bid to quash interjecting opposition councillors from speaking out of turn about the ongoing situation with the campaigners.

Before the adjournment, Cllr Wayne Major, Conservative Group leader, told the meeting that there was “deep concern” in the community about the potential sale of the land. He said the site’s fate, due to become a nature reserve, now “hangs in the balance”.

Cllr Major said the Labour administration had sought to “obscure the truth” of what is planned for the site – which represents a quarter of the overall golf course site, the rest of which is to become the Pewit Coronation Meadows nature reserve. He said: “The site is substantial, it is significant and not to be disposed of lightly.”

Cllr Major claimed the move was an attempt to “deliberately mislead the public”, saying the potential for Derbyshire Wildlife Trust had clearly not been discussed with the organisation, after it itself launched a “campaign” to quash the sale of the land last week.

He detailed that council plans for the site to be turned into 150 homes were rejected by the Secretary of State in 2002 and feared the authority – now back under Labour control – was looking to “settle old scores”.

Under the council’s own space guidance for houses the proposed seven-acre plot could cater for up to 40 homes, campaigners say.

Cllr Phillips banged her gavel and said “I am fed up with this” after a period of interjections. Cllr Major responded “there are a lot of people fed up with this situation”.

Cllr Phillips continued: “Let me have my say. The meeting needs to be abandoned, I mean adjourned, Freudian slip. Long Eaton has the capacity.”

Cllr Ann Mills said: “It is counter intuitive to hold the meeting in Long Eaton when the issue affects the people of Ilkeston. It is hard enough for people to get here after work.”

Danielle Hughes, the council’s head of law and governance, told the meeting that they had been forced to turn people away from the meeting and that this would not be required in Long Eaton. The meeting could be held in Ilkeston again, with time to better prepare equipment, but this would still leave people excluded, she said.

West End Drive residents fear the prospect of more traffic and disruption on a route said to already be plagued by congestion from Rutland Sports Park and the Ormiston Ilkeston Enterprise Academy.

The borough council has declared the land surplus to requirements and is set to dispose of it, with the site to be assessed for its suitability. If it is decided that the site will be sold then a public consultation with residents would be held.