Plans for 200 new homes have been submitted for a Derbyshire village in the protected Green Belt – but developers claim their chosen plot is ‘grey belt’.
The project, from Wheeldon Brothers, would see 200 homes – including 70 classed as affordable housing – built off Horsley Road, Kilburn.
If approved by Amber Valley Borough Council in the next few months, the developers would build the homes on fields to the rear of existing houses in Woodhouse Road and opposite some properties in Horsley Road, to the south of the village.
Plans submitted by the firm say the green fields it intends to build on, in the Green Belt, should be classified as “grey belt” under new national planning criteria, which they argue should make it prime for development.
The borough council remains in the process of adopting a new housing blueprint, its Local Plan, with Government officials already saying that as soon as it is adopted later this year, the authority must start a Green Belt land review.
This, the council’s leader says, would be to remove anomalies where industrial sites such as the Denby Hall Business Park, are already built in the Green Belt.
The developer says plans for two homes had been suggested on the identified site in 2018 and deemed unsuitable due to the Green Belt location.
However, they say no grey belt assessment was considered, with this only being brought in as a new policy in late 2024 – six years later.
Grey belt refers to areas of land which while appearing green may constitute previously developed land due to its use.
It also includes plots which have been found not to add a benefit to the wider Green Belt or result in significant loss through its removal.
The developer said the site does represent a key part of the separation between Kilburn to the north and Horsley to the south, but says national policy dictates that the separation argument is only relevant between two towns, not two villages.
As a result, it says the site cannot be protected for this purpose, and should also be approved even if it is not deemed to be grey belt, claiming the benefits of 200 homes outweigh the negatives.
As of this article’s publication there are 18 objection letters which have been filed by residents opposing the 200-home scheme, raising concerns about building in the Green Belt, the perceived lack of school and doctor facilities, and existing traffic and speeding issues.
If approved, the plans would include two ponds, an orchard and a children’s play area.
Access to the site would stem off Horsley Road and the overall site would have 400 parking spaces.
A breakdown of the house sizes has not yet been provided but would range from one to four bed properties.
As of the 2011 Census, Kilburn had a total of 1,580 households, with no detailed breakdown available from the 2021 Census.
The household change from 2011 to 2021 across Amber Valley was an increase of 3,700 households (seven per cent).
