HomeThe StoryInterviewsPhotographsResources
Dereliction and Redevelopment
The community reaction
The initial reaction to the news of the closure of the Ruddington Depot, after more than 40 year’s existence, was shock and dismay. To the majority of the local community it had always been there ever since they could remember or ever since they came to live in the village. Only a small number of long-standing middle-aged or elderly residents remembered the area before it was built. The workforce was much reduced, but the Depot was still one of the largest employers of labour, full and part-time in the vicinity. “What happens now?” became a question of major concern. Times had changed and local people felt they had a right to know what was being planned, and were also determined to make their own views known. There was a general desire to prevent industrial and residential development of the site. The Ruddington Parish Council’s preferred option, which had widespread support, was that the land should be returned to agriculture as it was in the Green Belt.
There were doubts about protection of the site by its inclusion in the Green Belt as the Parish Council minutes for 24th January 1983 record:
“The Ministry of Defence had made representation for
the Depot to be excluded from the Green Belt.
Resolved that upon release of the site by the Ministry of Defence it should
be returned to farmland."
(NB. The Property Services Agency is not subject to normal requirements for
submitting planning applications).
Meanwhile rumours circulated. It was said that the Home Office was intending to build an Open Prison on the site. A Retail Park or Hypermarket was also mooted. The longer a decision was delayed the more unease and pessimism grew.
The Story > Chapter 9 > Section 9.01