Derbyshire housing development conditionally gets the go-ahead despite villagers’ concerns

Bolsover District Council’s planning committee has conditionally granted permission for applicant Mark Mitchell’s planning application for housebuilder Honey for 50 homes at Town End Farm, off Lees Lane, at South Normanton, to go ahead.

The development on 1.98 hectares of land to the south of Lees Lane will include 35 detached dwellings, 12 semi-detached dwellings and three terraced dwellings with landscaping, individual property access and a main access route.

Despite concerns from some residents living near to the proposed site the council’s planning committee has conditionally granted and approved the planning application.

Laura Topliss, of nearby North Close, South Normanton, stated: “The additional houses will prove a burden on local resources.

“The two infant schools and one junior school in the village will not be able to cope with the additional capacity, forcing local families to attend schools in other areas.

“The doctor’s surgery in the village also struggles to cope with demand, having waited weeks for an appointment. No dental services taking new patients.

“Most of all the roads, particularly Market Street is facing an increasing challenge with the amount of traffic from both the local area and cars passing through making it unsafe as a minor B road, and one which I have personally waited to cross with my daughter to school for up to ten minutes.”

One couple, Mr and Mrs Andrews, of nearby Market Street, South Normanton, fears the new properties will be crammed so tightly together that there will be no room left for the area’s wildlife with most of the development using up greenfield land.

They too also argued that the village cannot take any more strain from housing developments on its roads, services and doctors with an anticipated influx exceeding 200 people.

Jenny Morris, of Lees Lane, stated that Lees Lane is already impassable at times due to the volume of traffic and it will pose access problems for any plant machinery.

And David Marriott, also of Lees Lane, said it is already difficult enough to drive to and from Lees Lane without having to reverse or manoeuvre to allow traffic through.

The Derbyshire County Council highways authority originally requested information from the applicant and it has since raised no objections to the development.

Derbyshire Wildlife Trust requested more information on the extent of tree removal and it encouraged the creation of a wildlife corridor on the site’s southern boundary, and the need for barn owl compensatory measures.

South Normanton Parish Council also submitted an objection to the planning application on the grounds Lees Lane is a narrow, residential lane with parked cars and it poses problems for lorries.

The parish council suggested an alternative entrance at the end of Shiners Way should have been considered by extending the road down the side of Derbyshire County Council’s services centre The Hub.

Bolsover District Council’s planning committee decision to approve the application was issued on June 9 on the grounds certain conditions will be met.

These conditions include the submission of a boundary treatment pack, a house and garage type pack, and a tree constraints plan with an arboricultural impact assessment, a tree protection plan and other amendments. Also, the main vehicular access to Lees lane must be completed up to an adoptable standard with new highway work.