Nottinghamshire council area

Selling Land in Rushcliffe

Rushcliffe builds far more homes than it is asked to, yet its supply of housing land clears five years by only 93 homes, and about 40% of the borough is Green Belt. With a joint strategic plan before three inspectors and its own new Local Plan now at scoping, the borough is preparing two plans at once, and both will shape which Green Belt land comes forward.

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West Bridgford, Six Key Settlements and the Nottingham Green Belt

Rushcliffe Borough Council covers the land south of Nottingham, from West Bridgford on the city edge out to a wide rural area of villages. Its adopted plans follow a strategy of "urban concentration with regeneration": growth goes first within or next to the main built-up area of Nottingham, then to six key settlements (Bingham, Cotgrave, East Leake, Keyworth, Radcliffe on Trent and Ruddington), and the other villages take homes for local needs only.

Delivery far above target. The Housing Delivery Test 2025 records 3,145 homes built against 1,826 required, a result of 172%.
An old strategy, a newer site plan. The Core Strategy dates from December 2014, 11 years ago; Local Plan Part 2, with the non-strategic sites, was adopted in October 2019.
Just over five years of land. The council's latest assessment finds 5.1 years of deliverable sites at 31 March 2025, measured against the government's standard method.
About 40% Green Belt. The council's scoping document puts roughly two fifths of the borough inside the Green Belt around Nottingham.
Two plans in motion. The Greater Nottingham Strategic Plan was submitted for examination in December 2025, and on 17 September 2026 the council opened scoping on a new Rushcliffe Local Plan.

Delivery is not the issue here. The Green Belt is, and so is a supply position close enough to five years that the next statement, and the adoption of the joint plan, could each move it.

Rushcliffe in Figures

The government's latest figures for the council, its latest five-year housing land supply, and where its local plan stands.

Housing Delivery Test 2025
172%
Meeting its housing requirement.
Five-year housing land supply
5.1 years
Five years or more of deliverable housing land. Position at 31 March 2025, measured against the standard method, 873 homes a year, plus a 5% buffer. Stated by Rushcliffe Borough Council.
Checked source
Homes built against homes needed
3,145
of 1,826 needed, April 2022 to March 2025
Most recent strategic plan adopted
December 2014
More than five years old, so its housing figures are usually replaced by the government's standard method.
New plan progress
Updated
Greater Nottingham Strategic Plan at examination: hearings closed 23 July 2026, councils responded to the inspectors September 2026
Checked source

Sources: Housing Delivery Test: 2025 measurement, MHCLG, published 17 August 2026; Local plans: monitoring progress, Planning Inspectorate, August 2026. Local plans move quickly, so always check the council's own website for the latest position.

A Margin of 93 Homes Above Five Years

Because the Core Strategy is more than five years old, the council measures its supply against the standard method rather than the plan. Its five-year housing land supply assessment, published in February 2026 with a base date of 31 March 2025, sets out:

Source: Rushcliffe Borough Council, Five Year Housing Land Supply Assessment 2025 to 2030, published February 2026.
Part of the calculation	Council's figure
Local housing need, standard method	873 homes a year
Five years of need	4,365 homes
Buffer	5%, as delivery is well above the delivery test thresholds
Five-year requirement with buffer	4,583 homes
Deliverable supply, including 382 from windfall sites	4,676 homes
Result	5.1 years

The large sites carry much of that supply. The assessment counts 1,265 homes in five years at land south of Clifton, now known as Fairham, 356 north of Bingham, 330 on the second phase at former RAF Newton, 296 at Melton Road, Edwalton, and 178 off Mill Lane in Cotgrave, but only 70 at the largest allocation, east of Gamston and north of Tollerton.

Building has been strong but is easing. The council's monitoring report for 2024/25 records 1,150 net completions in 2022/23, 1,110 in 2023/24 and 887 in 2024/25, of which 226 were affordable homes.

Two Reasons the Next Figure Could Be Tighter

We make no forecast, but two published numbers bear on the margin. The council's scoping document of September 2026 gives a standard method need of about 890 homes a year. On the council's own count of 4,676 homes, five years at 890 plus the 5% buffer would need about 4,673, leaving almost nothing to spare. Second, the inspectors examining the joint plan have capped delivery at land south of Clifton at 220 homes a year. The assessment counts 1,265 homes from that site in five years, more than the 1,100 such a cap would allow. Each next statement also adds new permissions and a year of building, so neither point settles the answer, but together they explain why we watch Rushcliffe's next statement closely.

Grey Belt in Rushcliffe, Stated Precisely

The Green Belt here wraps the southern side of Nottingham. It has already been drawn back twice for housing: the monitoring report records 670 hectares taken out through the Core Strategy allocations and a further 326 hectares through Local Plan Part 2, whose sites at Cotgrave, Keyworth, Radcliffe on Trent and Ruddington were all removed from it.

The Test for Homes on Grey Belt Land

Land counts as grey belt when it makes no strong contribution to purposes (a), (b) and (d) of the Green Belt, which are about restraining the spread of large built-up areas, keeping neighbouring towns apart and protecting the setting of historic towns. For housing, national policy adds a need test: homes on grey belt land are supported only where a need for them is evidenced, and the two usual proofs are a delivery result under the 75% line or a supply that falls short of the five-year mark. Rushcliffe, at 172% and 5.1 years, meets neither today. A grey belt housing case is therefore hard to make at present. It is not a closed door, because the margin is narrow, but it is not a route we would rely on for a field this year.

Outside the Green Belt, policy S5 of the national framework can support housing that sits properly against an existing town or village, provided unmet need has been evidenced. Where the Housing Delivery Test result falls below 75%, the need is taken as shown; where supply dips under five years, the shortfall goes into the balance as evidence without settling the point on its own. Green Belt land sits outside S5 altogether, and Rushcliffe shows neither sign today, so the numbers that close the grey belt route also narrow S5 across the rest of the borough.

Routes That Do Not Depend on the Numbers

Previously developed land in the Green Belt. Yards, depots and former commercial sites with lawful buildings or hardstanding are treated differently from open fields, whatever the supply.
Limited infilling in villages. Local Plan Part 2 describes small scale infilling as developing "small gaps within the existing built fabric of the village or previously developed sites" without harming the character of the area.
Inside the main built-up area and the key settlements. Plots within West Bridgford and the larger villages are judged under policy S4, which starts from approval and reserves refusal for harm that would substantially outweigh the benefits.
Rural exception sites for affordable homes, which the adopted plans allow at the other villages.

How the Council Is Mapping Grey Belt

In August 2025 Rushcliffe, Ashfield, Broxtowe, Gedling, Newark and Sherwood and Nottingham published a draft Green Belt Assessment Framework to test how land performs against those purposes. Any area not judged to contribute strongly to purpose (a), (b) or (d) "may be identified as grey belt land". It works in two stages, broad areas around settlements first and then smaller sites of at least half a hectare or ten homes. For purpose (a), land counts as strongly contributing where it is "free of existing development" and lacks nearby physical features that could contain development, so a field enclosed by a road, a railway or existing houses may score differently from open land. The framework is clear that "It is the role of the Council's emerging Local Plan to formally revise Green Belt boundaries". Our grey belt guide covers the purposes and the Golden Rules that follow.

The Greater Nottingham Strategic Plan, Without Gedling

The joint plan now covers Broxtowe, Nottingham and Rushcliffe to 2041, and in Rushcliffe it would replace the Core Strategy. Gedling withdrew from the partnership after the national framework was updated during the publication consultation of November 2024, and its land is no longer part of it. A revised publication draft followed in March 2025, and the three councils submitted the plan on 22 December 2025.

The examination is before three inspectors, and hearings closed on 23 July 2026. In a post-hearing note on housing supply, the inspectors cut expected delivery at Toton and Chetwynd Barracks in Broxtowe by 195 homes, agreed that the former Stanton Tip should be deleted, and capped land south of Clifton at 220 homes a year. The councils' response of 16 September 2026 re-ran the figures for Rushcliffe:

Source: the councils' response (GNC35) to the inspectors' Post Hearing Note 1 on housing supply, September 2026.
Rushcliffe in the revised trajectory	Councils' figure
Housing requirement in the submitted plan	664 homes a year
Updated local housing need, 2025 to 2041, as the councils calculated it for the examination	9,461 homes, about 591 a year
East of Gamston and north of Tollerton	2,314 homes in the plan period
Land south of Clifton (Fairham)	2,870 homes, at no more than 220 a year
Former RAF Newton	375 homes
Land north of Bingham	356 homes
Melton Road, Edwalton	342 homes
Five-year supply at an assumed adoption on 31 December 2026, against the submitted requirement	5.85 years, on 4,076 homes against 3,486 required with a 5% buffer
The same, against the updated local housing need	6.56 years, on 4,076 homes against 3,104 required

The supply rows need reading with care. On adoption, Rushcliffe's supply would be tested against the plan's requirement of 664 a year rather than today's 873, and the councils' own sums give 5.85 years. But the plan is being examined under the December 2023 framework, and 664 is about 76% of the 873 a year behind today's supply statement. A national rule in force for decisions since 1 July 2026 raises the buffer to 20% when three things line up: the requirement was adopted within five years, it was tested under a pre-December 2024 framework, and it sits at or below four fifths of the standard method. With 20% rather than 5%, the same 4,076 homes against 3,984 required would leave just over five years, a margin of 92 homes, almost exactly today's. Adoption is therefore unlikely to open up a comfortable cushion for decisions on applications, and the grey belt need test would stay finely balanced.

Gamston and Tollerton

The largest allocation, around 4,000 homes east of Gamston and north of Tollerton, has been in the plan since 2014. In March 2026 the council's Cabinet approved a supplementary planning document for the whole site, after pausing in January for more detail from the applicants, especially on highways, which it says gave it an aligned approach to a single highways solution. Planning applications are in, and the council says concerns about possible contamination around Nottingham Airport must be dealt with through them. Cllr Roger Upton said that without the guidance the council "would have risked applications for homes on the site at Gamston and Tollerton being determined by Government rather than by local people".

A New Rushcliffe Local Plan, From Scoping to 2029

While the joint plan is examined, Rushcliffe has started a single plan of its own under the government's new plan-making system, to replace Part 1 and Part 2. Its scoping document sets the gap the new plan has to close: the joint plan's draft requirement for Rushcliffe is 11,960 homes from 2023 to 2041, an average of 664 a year, against a standard method need of about 890. It also says the spatial strategy should consider "whether a review of Green Belt land is required", and that a separate call for sites is expected later. The document is careful to add that "No decisions have been made for the new Local Plan about how much future development should be accommodated or where it should be located."

The council's timetable runs as follows:

Rushcliffe Borough Council, new Local Plan timetable, version 1, 30 June 2026. The dates are the council's and may change.
Stage	Council's timetable
Scoping consultation	17 September to 23 October 2026
Gateway 1 self-assessment	31 October 2026
Consultation on plan content	17 May to 28 June 2027
Consultation on the proposed plan	15 May to 10 July 2028
Submission for examination	2 October 2028
Adoption	30 April 2029

A need near 890 a year, measured against 664, means the new plan has more land to find, and with the council asking whether the Green Belt needs review, the grey belt assessment will feed directly into where it looks. The stages between the call for sites and allocation are explained in call for sites and local plans.

The Land We Look for in Rushcliffe

Yards, depots, former commercial sites and other previously developed land in the Green Belt.
Small gaps within the built fabric of a village, suited to infilling.
Plots and underused land within West Bridgford and the key settlements.
Fields on the edge of Bingham, Radcliffe on Trent, Keyworth, Ruddington, Cotgrave or East Leake that are contained by roads, a railway or existing homes.
Larger holdings that could be assessed for the new Local Plan, inside or outside the Green Belt.

Open Green Belt that plainly checks the spread of Nottingham faces a high bar, and we will tell you so in our review. Where a site suits us, we set the price with you at the outset, above today's value, and we fund the Green Belt, highways, drainage and ecology work ourselves. You carry on using the land until completion, and if permission never comes it remains yours, with nothing owed. Old yards and commercial plots have their own page, brownfield and yards, and the how it works page takes you through the stages.

Rushcliffe From the October Scoping Deadline to a 2029 Plan

Scoping, Then a Call for Sites

The scoping consultation runs to 5pm on 23 October 2026, and the council's timetable has its Gateway 1 self-assessment published on 31 October. The call for sites follows later. Land with its evidence in hand when that call opens is best placed for the plan content stage in May 2027.

The Inspectors' Next Step on the Joint Plan

The examination page says further information on next steps will follow, and main modifications would normally go out for comment before the inspectors report. The councils' figures assumed adoption at the end of 2026. Once the joint plan is adopted, Rushcliffe's supply would be measured against its requirement, with the 20% buffer described above, so the margin for decisions would stay narrow rather than widen.

The Next Supply Statement

The last assessment came out in February 2026, based at 31 March 2025. The next will add a year of building and new permissions, read against the higher need figure and the Clifton cap. A result below five years would give well placed land, including grey belt, an evidenced need it lacks now, and we would want to be ready.

The Next Delivery Test

The Housing Delivery Test 2025 came out on 17 August 2026, and a new edition follows each year. The next window drops 2022/23, the borough's strongest recent year at 1,150 homes, and adds 2025/26. At 172%, none of the test's consequences is close.

Reorganisation, Paused

On 7 September 2026 the government paused the Nottingham and Nottinghamshire reorganisation while it reviews the programme. Rushcliffe remains the planning authority for both plans.

What This Means for Timing

Previously developed land, village infill and sites within settlements can be looked at now.
Green Belt fields are best prepared for the call for sites and the May 2027 consultation, with the council's grey belt framework in mind.

Questions About Land in Rushcliffe

My field is in the Green Belt near Radcliffe on Trent. Is it grey belt?

It might be. The council's framework asks whether land is free of development and whether roads, railways or houses would contain building on it. Even if it is grey belt, homes need evidenced need, which Rushcliffe does not show today, so for most fields the new Local Plan is the realistic route.

Rushcliffe has only just over five years of land. Does that help me?

Not yet. Just over five years still counts as five years. What it does mean is that a later statement could fall short, and that land with its evidence ready would be in a position to use that. We prepare and pay for that evidence.

Should I wait for the call for sites before doing anything?

No. The call is expected after scoping, and sites judged on evidence do best. Green Belt, access, drainage and ecology work takes months, so starting now means your land can be put forward properly when the call opens.

Gedling left the joint plan. Does that change anything in Rushcliffe?

Not directly. Rushcliffe stayed in the Greater Nottingham Strategic Plan with Broxtowe and Nottingham, and its sites and requirement are being examined there. Gedling's land is simply no longer covered by the joint plan. For the county picture, see our Nottinghamshire page.

My land is near the Gamston and Tollerton allocation. Does that help?

It depends where the land sits. The allocation has its own supplementary planning document, approved in March 2026 after the applicants set out an aligned approach to a single highways solution. Land next to it but outside it remains Green Belt or countryside unless a plan changes that, so we would look at how it relates to the allocation and to the council's grey belt assessment.

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Sources

Figures on this page come from the Housing Delivery Test 2025 (published 17 August 2026) and the Planning Inspectorate's local plan monitoring to August 2026, with newer plan milestones checked on 24 September 2026. We update the page when new results or plan milestones are published. Planning positions change quickly, so always check the council's own website before relying on it.