‘Horrified’ protesters opposed to Derbyshire housing scheme fear ‘nightmare’ increase in traffic
A protest has been held against plans for hundreds more homes at Old Tupton, near Chesterfield
Protesters who gathered outside a Derbyshire council fear plans for a controversial housing scheme for reportedly around ‘350’ homes on greenfield land between two Derbyshire villages will create a ‘nightmare’ with increased traffic and over-development.
NE Derbyshire District Council’s planning committee is due to consider Hallam Land Management Ltd’s planning application for a residential development with associated site infrastructure, open space and landscaping on land west of Coupe Lane, at Old Tupton, Chesterfield, which has already attracted over 200 submissions from the public.
Hallam Land previously published information last summer for the ‘proposed development’ off Coupe Lane, between Holmgate and Old Tupton, which was similar to a previous Hallam Land planning application submitted to the council on a 14 hectare site that was withdrawn in 2021 after it attracted many objections.
Campaigner Brian Lever, of Coupe Lane, said: “The A61 is becoming an increasing nightmare with no solutions on the horizon so, first of all, putting in another 600 to 700 cars on Coupe Lane is unworkable for the reason that everyone of these cars will cross and go on and down the A61.
“There are no services such as schools and doctors so everyone needing these things have to cross an already over-subscribed road for cars because of other developments that have already gone ahead around the A61 and Clay Cross.”
Campaigners and residents, who held a rally outside the council on March 17, have submitted objections including claims the scheme is not sustainable because of the busy and roadwork-strewn A61 Clay Cross to Tupton corridor and that there is already a disproportionate number of housing schemes in the area.
They have also raised concerns including a feared risk of increased flooding, air and noise pollution, a loss of fields separating communities, GP and school capacity, privacy and a loss of wildlife.
Campaigner Dean Coogan, of Harewood Crescent, Old Tupton, said: “A lot of my main concern is the congestion and over-development and access to the A61 corridor.
“Looking at the strategic plan, and what Derbyshire County Council plans to do, and I have looked at the building on the south corridor – it is over-development by comparison with the North East district. The A61 cannot take it. The infrastructure won’t be able to take it.”
One concerned resident stated the proposal has been labelled ‘sustainable’ by the developer which they say is a highly inaccurate description of the impact the development would have on the area.
Jessica Bateman, of Old Tupton, stated: “Ten years ago we installed drainage on our land due to excessive water. This has proved to be somewhat ineffective as we are still experiencing excessive water due to high amounts of rainfall and run-off from the fields.
“I am deeply concerned that any house built on the proposed site will have a devastating effect on my property and other properties in the area.
“I’m also concerned about traffic, the lanes leading to and from Matlock and Chesterfield, which I feel are already overly used and inadequate for the amount of traffic. I myself have witnessed many accidents and ‘close calls’ with vehicles, pedestrians and horses over the years.”
Concerned objector Sharon Sandhu said the proposal is fundamentally inconsistent with the council’s adopted Local Plan, environmentally damaging, and unsustainable in terms of infrastructure, transport, and flood risk.
NE Derbyshire District Cllr David Hancock, for the Tupton Ward, has also objected to the scheme on highway and transport grounds with concerns about increased traffic particularly school-related movements affecting Tupton village and the highway network surrounding Tupton Hall School.
Clay Cross Parish Council has objected to the scheme for ‘350’ homes claiming it fails in appearance, design and layout and in the provision of affordable housing and poses an adverse impact on nature with concerns for the area’s infrastructure capacity, traffic and highways and for potential flood and drainage issues.
Derbyshire County Council’s Flood Risk Management team has also submitted a holding objection until it receives further information after raising concerns about surface water and drainage systems, greenfield run-off, a flood evacuation plan and that the area’s flood resilience needs to considered.
The Coal Authority stated that it has no objections to the scheme providing the site is proven to be safe and stable due to the presence of former coal mining features.
NE Derbyshire District Cllr Charlotte Cupit alerted residents in August after an agent or the developer had completed a ‘pre-application’ and many residents received leaflets from them about the draft plans.
But the applicants have since submitted a formal planning application in what has been described as a major development and a departure from the development plan affecting a public footpath which is due to considered by the council’s planning committee in the near future.
Cllr Cupit confirmed that concerned residents and campaigners had previously been successful in getting plans for an original scheme withdrawn but she is now concerned that the scheme has resurfaced as part of the Government’s drive to meet ramped-up housing targets which she fears will heavily impact the area and risk overriding local planning protections.
Hallam Land published a ‘Masterplan’, last year, with draft proposals for up to 300 homes with around 60 – equating to 20per cent of the total – expected to be ‘affordable’ to support a national housing shortage identified by the Government and recognised by councils.
The draft plans also included a public open space area with surface water attenuation to store and release excess rainwater which could provide a new wetland habitat at the proposed site on agricultural land near homes along Coupe Lane, Ashover Road and Mill Lane.
They also boasted safe and suitable access from Coupe Lane, additional pedestrian connectivity, the retention of a green buffer to the southwest between the scheme and Millfield Camping Park and to the countryside to the north with tree planting earmarked along the western edge.
Hallam Land also stated that as part of its plans an existing public right of way will be maintained and enhanced, vegetation and hedgerows will be retained where possible, and there will also be additional planting as well as land to be used for an equipped playspace.
Concerns previously raised for the original planning application included a feared increase in traffic and safety risks along an already busy Coupe Lane, a feared impact on wildlife and the ecosystem, and that there have been recent developments at nearby Clay Cross, Wingerworth and Old Tupton.
A campaign spokesperson stated: “Residents of Holmgate and Old Tupton are horrified to see that the council’s Emerging Local Plan Consultation includes an option to allow Hallam Land to return again with their previously failed application to build 350 houses on the lovely and highly productive farming landscape on Coupe Lane.”
Cllr Cupit, a district councillor and former Derbyshire County Councillor, has stated she is willing to work with residents to oppose the current scheme even though she no longer represents Clay Cross since she lost her county council seat at the May elections but she regards herself as a nearby district councillor and concerned resident.
Conservative Cllr Cupit stated that hundreds of residents, whom she supported, and groups previously submitted objections to the original planning application which was withdrawn after its consideration between 2017 and 2021.
She claimed in 2021 this had been as a result of NE Derbyshire District Council, under its former Conservative administration, introducing an adopted Local Plan setting out land allocations for developments in the area providing greater protection from speculative developments.
However, the council’s current Labour administration is updating its Local Plan after stating that it needs to find land to accommodate over 12,000 new homes over the next 20 years to help meet the huge national demand for new homes.
The Labour Government aims to deliver 1.5 million new homes in five years in England and it has also urged all relevant councils to help facilitate a target of 370,000 new homes a year with allowances to encourage more developments on low-quality Green Belt areas deemed to be ‘Grey Belt’.
Cllr Cupit has said she is really concerned about the Government’s housing targets given the high number of new homes that have already been built in North East Derbyshire and she has repeatedly raised concerns about the use of greenfield land for developments and the loss of countryside.