The current site off Birchwood Lane, Somercotes, is an equestrian centre. Image from Marrons Planning.
Report by Local Democracy Reporter – Eddie Bisknell
Plans to seal the development of more than 70 homes on an equestrian centre next to historic toxic landfills have been submitted.
Following the approval of plans from Avant Homes for 75 homes off Birchwood Lane, Somercotes, formally agreed in March, the developer is now seeking final sign-off.
If approved for a second time – this time for more detailed plans such as the designs of the homes – the development would involve houses being built next to Avant Homes’ £47 million 200-home existing Seely Fields site.
Amber Valley Borough Council will make a decision on the plans in the next few months.
Nether Farm and the proposed 75-home site, which is currently an equestrian centre, border highly controversial land formerly used as a hazardous waste tip known as LS01, which forms a large man-made hill to the south.
Waste dumped into the landfill was entirely undocumented for decades and when a licence was granted it was for a “cocktail” of hazardous waste, with evidence of these harmful substances found some distance from the site, which have been questioned throughout decades of planning debates, court battles and campaigning crossing several generations.
This has been widely documented by ground investigation reports commissioned by housing developers and published as part of their applications.
A High Court battle was required to finalise the development of Avant Homes’ Seely Fields scheme next door to the proposed 75-home plans.
Homes on the Seely Fields site have had to be built on suspended floors and with specialist membranes built underneath to prevent harmful substances leaching from the ground into the homes and causing significant health hazards.
In 2023 village residents, some of which spoke to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, claimed numerous people in Somercotes were falling ill due to work in housing developments next to historic landfill sites.
The UK Health Security Agency claimed, following an investigation of one case referred to it, that “it is extremely unlikely that environmental toxins were the cause of any illness reported”.
This included homes close to the Nether Farm site and also homes around the 180-home Stanley Street site.
Plans for the 75-home site were submitted to the borough council nine months after it disclosed it had listed the plot as a potential site for its Local Plan blueprint of housing up until 2039.
In March 2026, the council finalised its Local Plan after 15 years without one and included the 75-home plan for Somercotes in its 13 new earmarked sites.
Of the 75 homes, 30 percent (22 homes) would be classed as affordable, with the new layout plan showing mostly semi-detached homes.
Avant Homes had detailed in its outline application: “The proposals will be designed sensitively to fit in with the character of the area and to tie into wider developments. The scheme will provide a high quality, attractive and distinctive housing scheme which will balance the need for new homes with the need to protect the local environment.
“The proposals will provide a significant boost of up to 75 new homes in a wholly sustainable location. The proposals are of a scale that is proportionate to the size of the settlement and will not have any adverse effects in terms of highway safety, amenity of neighbours, flood risk, ecology or any other environmental requirements.”
