Selling Land in Nottinghamshire

Nottinghamshire has seven district and borough councils: Ashfield, Bassetlaw, Broxtowe, Gedling, Mansfield, Newark and Sherwood, and Rushcliffe. Nottinghamshire County Council handles roads, schools and minerals. Nottingham itself is a separate unitary council and is not shown in the table below, though it shares a strategic plan with two of the districts.

• No council is below 75%. Every council passed the Housing Delivery Test 2025 threshold. Ashfield, at 93%, is the only one below 95%, which means it must prepare an action plan.
• Some very high results. Bassetlaw delivered 357% of its requirement, the highest in the county by a long way. Rushcliffe delivered 172%.
• A Green Belt around Nottingham. The Nottingham and Derby Green Belt covers parts of Ashfield, Broxtowe, Gedling, Newark and Sherwood, and Rushcliffe.
• A shared plan for Greater Nottingham. Nottingham, Broxtowe and Rushcliffe submitted the Greater Nottingham Strategic Plan for examination in December 2025. Gedling left the joint plan in 2025 and is preparing its own.
• The Trent. The river crosses the county from the south west to the north east, with a wide flood plain along most of its length.

The Nottingham and Derby Green Belt

The Green Belt was set up to stop Nottingham and Derby spreading and merging with the towns around them. It wraps round the city on all sides and covers much of the open land in Broxtowe, Gedling and Rushcliffe close to the city. Since December 2024, land in the Green Belt that does not strongly contribute to its purposes can be treated as grey belt, and development on it can be allowed if it meets the Golden Rules on affordable housing, infrastructure and green space. Previously developed land in the Green Belt, such as old yards, can also qualify. Our grey belt guide explains the test.

The Trent Flood Plain

The Trent is the biggest planning constraint in the county after the Green Belt. Its flood plain is wide from Attenborough and the Nottingham embankments down through Newark and on past the Bassetlaw villages towards Gainsborough. Many riverside villages have land in Flood Zones 2 and 3, and the Idle, the Leen, the Greet and the Soar add their own risk. A site partly in Flood Zone 3 is not always ruled out, because the homes can often be kept to the drier land. See our guide to flood risk and development land.

Sherwood Forest

Parts of Sherwood are being considered as a possible future Special Protection Area for nightjar and woodlark. It is not designated, but Natural England asks councils to take a precautionary approach. Mansfield, for example, uses a risk-based checklist that looks at distance from the core bird areas, with larger housing schemes within 5 kilometres needing more careful assessment and sometimes new green space. We check this for land in Mansfield, Newark and Sherwood, Gedling and Ashfield.

Heritage and Infrastructure

Newark, Southwell, Worksop and many smaller places have conservation areas and important listed buildings, and heritage settings often shape layout and density. The A1, A46, A52 and M1 carry heavy traffic, and junction capacity and sewage treatment are raised on many larger schemes.

No Nottinghamshire council is below 75% in the Housing Delivery Test, so the unmet need route under national policy does not apply here at the moment. The routes that do work depend on which half of the county your land is in:

1. Local plan allocation. The Greater Nottingham Strategic Plan is at examination, Gedling's plan is due to be submitted in December 2026 and Ashfield's is under examination. Later plans under the new system will follow. See our guide to call for sites and local plans.
2. Grey belt around Nottingham. Fields that do little to stop sprawl or merging, and old yards and buildings in the Green Belt, can qualify if they meet the Golden Rules.
3. Previously developed land. Former pit sites, depots and yards, which national policy supports reusing.
4. Sites near stations. National policy supports higher density homes close to well-connected stations. Whether that applies depends on the station and its service.
5. Neighbourhood plans. Many villages in Rushcliffe, Newark and Sherwood and Bassetlaw have neighbourhood plans, some of which allocate sites.

Around Nottingham, the Green Belt test decides most things. Further north, the question is usually flood risk, access and fit with the plan. In both cases the planning work costs money and takes time, which is why our agreements put those costs on our side.