Plans have been submitted to build almost 100 new homes next to the A38 in Derby – but concerned councillors say the proposals are not “sustainable”. Developer Wheeldon Homes has approached Derby City Council for planning permission to build 96 homes on vacant land known as The Hollow next to one of the city’s busiest roads.
It comes after the Derby-based developer launched a public consultation on the plans in September last year. But that was for a 120-home site off the A516 bordering Mickleover and Littleover – not the 96 figure now proposed.
The 96-home development aims to provide a mixture of two, three and four-bed homes both semi-detached and detached. There will also be well-designed public open space, landscaping, meadow grassland, lighting, a play area and a pond. A new road off The Hollow is proposed as access to the development.
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But the most controversial part of the plans appears to be the land on which the proposal is centred. Should it get the go-ahead, the homes will be built on “Green Wedge” land which currently separates the two Derby suburbs.
The presence of green wedge spaces helps to maintain suburb identities within towns and cities and there is a view that development should not be built on it. Similar plans to build on Green Wedge land in Oakwood caused widespread concern last year with hundreds of people raising objections to a planning application for housing development.
Planning documents on behalf of the developer state: “Wheeldon Brothers propose a well-designed development that embraces best practices to create an attractive, safe and inclusive environment compatible with adjacent properties, safeguarding residential amenity and respecting and enhancing the local environment.
“The development completes the settlement pattern for Mickleover, integrating easily against a backdrop of existing residential development and highway infrastructure. The development appropriately balances the quantum of development with open space and landscaping, facilitating enhancements to the function of the Green Wedge as significant benefit of residential development as proposed.
“The proposed residential development at The Hollow will make a substantial and positive contribution to housing provision in Derby city, creating a well-designed place, demonstrating sustainable development.”
However, councillors in the Mickleover ward have raised concerns about the proposed development. Their main concern is the proposed building on Green Wedge land.
A statement from the Mickleover councillors said: “The land is formally identified as a ‘Green Wedge’ buffer in Derby City Council’s local plan. It, therefore, should not be built on.
“It has been confirmed by council officers that there are ‘no school places’ and ‘no clear solutions’ to local school places for this proposed housing development. We have seen unprecedented housing growth in and bordering Mickleover ward and the impact on local roads and services has been severe. This site is not ‘sustainable development’.”