Therapy and treatment centre at Notts Fire And Rescue Service Nottinghamshire Fire And Rescue Headquarters Bestwood Lodge Drive Bestwood

What was proposed

The application sought changes to an approved therapy and treatment centre, including ground-level alterations beneath three trees and removal of another tree and hedgerow.

“Demolish existing buildings and develop a new private residential therapy and treatment centre, together with associated infrastructure and landscaping. (Variation of Conditions 21, 22 and 26 of planning permission 2024/0708 to enable alterations to ground levels under trees T32, T33 and T34 to facilitate the required gradient for the access drive and to remove tree T73 and Hedgerow H18 to allow the building of a previously approved wall.)”

“Full planning application to demolish existing buildings and develop a new private residential therapy and treatment centre, together with associated infrastructure and landscaping.”

Officer report

The site and surroundings

The vacant site was formerly a fire and rescue headquarters, lies in the Green Belt, and is surrounded by country park, homes, heritage assets and mature trees.

“The site is currently vacant but was previously occupied by the Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service as their regional headquarters, until 2022. There are a number of two and three storey buildings which occupy the site and other smaller ancillary buildings and hard surfacing. The site has an area of approximately 2.05 hectares.”

“To the west of the site is the Bestwood Country Park, parts of which are defined in the Gedling Local Plan as Protected Open Space and a Local Wildlife Site. To the north of the site are large, residential properties in large plots of land. To the south of the site lies the Bestwood former stable block, which is now converted into residential properties and Bestwood Lodge Hotel.”

Officer report

What officers recommended

Officers recommended approval because the changes were considered necessary for emergency access and would avoid unacceptable harm to visual amenity, heritage or ecology.

“As such, it was explored whether the proposed emergency fire access was absolutely necessary to serve this development, whether the proposed access was required in this location and whether the ground levels required altering to achieve a shallower gradient to facilitate this. Following further assessment, it is considered necessary for the above fire access, in this location and at this gradient.”

“For the reasons stated above, it is considered that the proposed works, subject to conditions, will not have an unacceptable harmful impact on the visual amenity (including heritage) of the area or on ecology. As such, the proposal is considered to be in accordance with the NPPF Parts 12, 15 and 16 and Policies ACS10, 11, 16 and 17 and LPD18, 19, 26 and 27.”

Officer report

What consultees said

Highways raised no objection, building control supported the need for access, and tree and ecology officers accepted retaining the trees; no public comments were received.

“Nottinghamshire County Council Highway Officer;- Raise no objection to the proposal and state that ideally the access road should not have a gradient steeper than 1:12 (it is currently 1:2.5). They state that there may be other ways of achieving fire regulations such as installing sprinklers but that advice should be sought from Building Control on this matter.”

“Gedling Borough Council Building Control;- Verbal advice provided as to whether this fire access was required in this location. They originally asked for further information regarding the fire strategy at the site. Once this was received they reported that the submitted fire strategy justifies the need for the access road under the trees.”

Officer report

Trees and environmental concerns

The proposal would raise levels beneath three protected trees, remove a low-quality tree and hedgerow, and require monitoring and replacement planting if necessary.

“T32 is a Yew Tree and T33 and 34 are both Common Lime trees. The submitted Tree Survey identifies these three trees as Category B trees which are “Trees of Moderate Quality.” These trees are also protected by a Tree Preservation Order (‘TPO’).”

“Negotiations took place with the applicant and it was agreed to amend the proposal from varying the relevant planning conditions to allow these trees to be removed to allowing the required raising of ground levels underneath these trees and requiring the applicant to be responsible for annual inspections of the trees to monitor their heath following the filling of land here.”

Officer report

Who addressed the committee

The Principal Planning Officer introduced the report and advised that condition 22 should be amended to make its wording clearer.

Committee discussion

The committee discussion recorded a proposed replacement wording for condition 22 requiring tree-protection fencing before works in root protection areas.

“The Principal Planning Officer advised members of the committee that it was proposed to alter condition 22 to make the wording clearer.”

“Prior to any works being carried out within the Root Protection Area of retained trees, the Tree Protection Fencing shown within the Tree Protection Plan (received by the Local Planning Authority 08.12.2025) shall be implemented and retained for the duration of the works.”

Minutes