Controversial plans for a new housing scheme have moved a step closer despite village residents’ fears that the development may lead to increased traffic and flooding problems.
Green 4 Developments have submitted a planning application to North East Derbyshire District Council for 30 dwellings on a 1.29 hectare site on a paddock to the rear of High Street, at Stonebroom, near Alfreton, with access via the junction at nearby Pasture Lane.
Councillor Charlotte Cupit, who represents Shirland, requested this application be further considered due to concerns over the impact on highways, infrastructure, access and the suitability of the land with similar representations, including a loss of green space, submitted from 20 residents.
During a planning committee meeting on June 6 to purely decide upon access, Cllr Cupit said: “With these features in mind and the more detail the residents are going to highlight today I do not think this application is appropriate.”
Cllr Cupit highlighted concerns about the proposed access via Pasture Lane which she said is unadopted, in shared ownership, in a poor condition and regularly floods.
She also argued plans to ban parking on nearby High Street would leave existing residents nowhere to leave their vehicles and the development would mean an increasing number of vehicles using narrow roads in a dense area.
Cllr Cupit previously stated: “Thirty new dwellings and the associated significant increase in cars turning onto and off of the High Street in this area would be of significant concern to me, particularly given existing parking constraints on the High Street and the speed of existing traffic in the area.”
Residents have lodged objections including worries that the main road through the village is already busy with hazardous access, and that facilities including the local school and GP surgery are already full.
They also claimed the site already floods on a regular basis with surface water flowing onto Pasture Lane, and that the drainage system cannot cope, and the area may have been affected by its mining history. loss of green space.
Shirland and Higham Parish Councillor and resident, Margaret Kimber, said the Coal Authority records state an outcrop runs through part of the site and she claimed that if workings are present this poses a risk to surface safety.
Resident Julia Smith, complained the development would breach her privacy and pose light and noise pollution and the use of Pasture Lane for access would be an “accident waiting to happen”.
And resident Angela Cooper, of Pasture Lane, also raised concerns about untended ditches and overgrown hedges and urged that problems with excess water and flooding would need to be considered.
Shirland and Higham Parish Council has also submitted objections including visibility for road-users leaving Pasture Lane, problems with drainage and surface water, increased traffic, and increased numbers at the village school and a GP surgery.
However, the application has so far been met with no objections from the Coal Authority, Severn Trent Water, and the lead local flood authority.
Derbyshire County Council’s Highways Authority has initially raised no objections but after raising issues about widening Pasture Lane plans for a footway have now been accepted and it has also been agreed there should be appropriate signage and lining related to parking restrictions.
Daniela Phillips, of Green 4 Developments, said the access scheme has been subject to a lot of discussions so the development can be delivered with a safe and practical design approved by the Highways Authority.
A NE Derbyshire District Council planning officer stated the site should be properly drained and drain-managed, and Councillor Stuart Fawcett said sewage concerns were being addressed as part of the council officer’s recommendations.
The planning application has so far been recommended for approval and the council’s planning committee unanimously approved the development’s highway access arrangements during its meeting on June 6 before other matters are to be considered at a later date.
