Plan for 30 homes on town outskirts met with accident fears
NEIGHBOUR OUTLINES RISK OF ‘SERIOUS CRASHES’
PLANS have been submitted to build 30 new houses on grazing land on the outskirts of Ashbourne.
The outline application, submitted by Mr K Whitmore, would see a new housing estate built off Belper Road, in a field next to the junction with Mill Lane, at Sturston.
The land is just outside the settlement boundary, sandwiched between the houses which sit on the north side of Belper Road and an electricity substation on the other side of Mill Lane.
An immediate neighbour who lives in the house overlooking the field has already objected to the application, citing a series of issues, including potential dangers of building a new access on to the A517.
Philip Robinson says the plans would see houses built right up to his boundary on what he calls a “cramped” development site, and he has told Derbyshire Dales District Council that the four-acre plot is enjoyed by an abundance of wildlife.
He sent in records of a number of accidents that have occurred at the site, including a fatal crash a few feet away from the proposed new entrance in 2012, and two less serious accidents on the site of the access itself.
In a letter outlining his reasons for objecting, he explained: “It is clear that building a new development with 30 houses could contain up to 60 vehicles flowing in and out of the A517. This will create hundreds of vehicle manoeuvres into and out of a single-access road. Vehicles will need to brake sharply or accelerate quickly into or out of the access road, into a 50mph zone on a narrow stretch of busy road.
“Each manoeuvre at the junction to and out of the proposed access road will exponentially increase the risk of many more serious, possibly fatal accidents.”
There had not been a response published by the Highways Department by the time the News Telegraph went to press, but a document from the applicant’s agents Planning Design details: “The aim is to create an attractive, outward looking development which addresses Belper Road and areas of open space within the site, hiding driveways, cars, and private gardens to the rear, thus ensuring an attractive gateway to the town.”
The document says this meadow should help provide a protective buffer for a nearby Grade-ii listed farmhouse, with aims to also safeguard the non-designated heritage asset Sturston Cottage.
All of the trees and hedgerows would be retained, apart from a break on Belper Road to form the access route and one dead hawthorn tree would be removed. Of the 30 planned houses, nine would be classed as affordable housing.
The document adds: “The site is sustainably located on the edge of an existing first-tier settlement, and the council is unable to currently demonstrate a deliverable housing land supply of five years.
“The provision of open space and planting within and around the site would be able to mitigate some of this impact, particularly over time as the planting matures.
“As such, the site can accommodate a sensitively designed housing development without any significant adverse landscape or visual impacts.
“The scheme will accommodate up to 30 new households, with a significant portion of residents likely to be of working age.
“The scheme would therefore directly contribute to the availability of local labour in Ashbourne and the surrounding area, and residents of the new development would generate increased spending in the local economy which would help to sustain the vitality of existing services and facilities.
“The provision of nine affordable dwellings would be a significant benefit both for the town and the district as a whole, helping to meet the needs of local people.
“It is acknowledged that these social benefits would not be unique to this proposal, as similar benefits would be likely to flow from any new housing development within the district. “However, given the apparent shortage of suitable housing sites across the district, the social benefits do represent real, tangible benefits for the wider community.”
Derbyshire Dales District Council is due to make a decision on the proposed scheme in the coming months, and Ashbourne Town Council is likely to discuss it as a consultee at its planning committee meeting on Monday, August 8.
The site can accommodate a sensitively designed housing development without any significant adverse.. .impacts.
Planning bid