Planners have given the go-ahead for a residential site for Travelling Showpeople near a Derbyshire village despite residents’ fears that it may expand with increased traffic, pose a threat to the environment and create conflict over the use of a privately owned access road.
Bolsover District Council’s planning committee approved Messrs Marshall and Allen’s application for the change of use of land at a vacant Travelling Showpeople’s yard to allow for four residential mobile home plots for Travelling Showpeople with access and landscaping on countryside land at Station Yard, off Chesterfield Road, in Pleasley.
The council stated that the 0.42hectare site is already an established vacant Travelling Showpeople’s yard accessed by an unadopted driveway which is in private ownership that serves nine homes off Chesterfield Road known as Midland Cottages.
A council spokesperson, who also pointed out the council has an unmet need for sites to accommodate Travelling Showpeople, explained that a significant consideration is that a large part of the site has previous planning permission for a single caravan for Travelling Showpeople and equipment which has established a significant section of the site as previously developed.
The spokesperson added: “The application raises no concerns regarding impacts on the rural character of the environment, design and character, residential amenity, biodiversity, land contamination and stability, flooding and drainage.”
The site previously had planning permission to store, maintain and repair Travelling Showpeople’s equipment for fairs, circuses or shows and the latest application is to convert the land into a residential site for four mobile homes.
Each proposed plot consists of a mobile home and parking for two vehicles with amenity space, according to the council, and the applicants are proposing to change the use of the land to a residential area occupied all year round with access at the end of a private road that serves Midland Cottages between Chesterfield Road and the site.
The applicants have an ‘unfettered legal right’ over the privately owned access road, according to the council, and that any dispute between residents, owners and the applicants regarding site access rights, or any works to the private road to facilitate the development, are a private legal matter and not within the remit of the planning authority.
However, Bolsover District Council received 46 letters from residents who fear that the site may expand beyond four caravans and that Pleasley already has an ‘over-adequate’ protected caravan site at Common Lane.
Objecting residents also argued the application will create a radical change in character and identity for the area and that there appears to be a complete disregard and lack of consideration for the current residents of Midland Cottages and the surrounding area.
Some also fear any additional traffic may prove hazardous and that the access road is not wide enough and that there is no guarantee waste refuse and recycling disposal would be serviceable to the area by the council.
Concerns have also been raised that the site is next to a nature reserve with nesting birds and wildlife and that the end of Chesterfield Road below the site floods regularly and the area poses foul system drainage worries.
In addition, some claim the Station Yard owners stopped residents of Midland Cottages previously using part of the access road for many months.
And residents, according to the council, have stated they will not allow their part of Midland Cottages road to be dug up to provide access to services and they are concerned damage to the Midland Cottages’ road with increased wear and tear could pose increased maintenance and repair costs for residents.
Pleasley Parish Council has also objected to the application because it doubts the development will be limited to just for four mobile homes and the parish council feels the area’s green space should be protected.
And Bolsover District Councillor Tom Kirkham also objected to the development concerning issues with contamination after the land was previously granted permission for storage, maintenance and repair of showpeople’s plant and equipment and he also raised concerns around access to the site along an unadopted road.
However, the council stressed any dispute which may arise between residents, owners and the applicant regarding site access or any works to the private road to facilitate the development will be a private legal matter and not within the planning remit.
Bolsover District Council added the applicants are also not seeking to store showpeople’s equipment at the site because they intend to do this elsewhere and the applicants do not have to provide details of the alternative storage site, according ot the council, and the applicant has also agreed to a condition to prevent storage of such equipment on the site.
The council’s Senior Engineer and its Waste and Recycling Manager have both raised no objections to the planning application and Derbyshire County Council’s highways authority stated there would not be an unacceptable impact on highway safety or a severe impact on congestion with the development and there are no justifiable grounds on which to raise a highways objection.
A council spokesperson added: “It is appreciated local residents fear future expansion due to the application site area, however the application is required to be considered on its own merits.
“The application raises no issues in respect of its countryside or landscape impacts and is considered in accordance with the above policies that protect the rural environment.”
The council argued concerns about expansion are not a material planning consideration and any contravention of access rights of the private road would be a legal matter between the residents and the applicants, and similarly additional wear caused to the private access road and costs for maintenance would similarly be a private matter to be resolved between residents and the applicants.
Its planning committee approved the application at a meeting on July 9 with conditions limiting the number of caravan plots to four, that there will not be commercial or industrial activities allowed and there will be no storage of Travelling Showpeople’s fairground or circus equipment on the site.
In addition, before any development a scheme of foul drainage and surface water disposal must be approved, a Construction Environmental Management Plan must be submitted and before any of the site is occupied a Biodiversity Enhancement Plan must also be submitted.
And if a site investigation identifies unacceptable levels of contamination, a detailed remediation scheme must also be approved, according to the council.
