Councillors clash as residents say our village is ‘full’
COUNCILLORS have clashed in a meeting over plans for houses in a Derbyshire village, with locals claiming its schools, roads and sewage system are stretched past breaking point.
In a Derbyshire Dales District Council meeting on Tuesday last week councillors were to decide on Cameron Homes’ plans for 33 homes off Mercaston Lane and Luke Lane in Brailsford, stemming off the newly built Acorn Meadows development.
Before councillors got into the debate, fellow Liberal Democrat councillors David Burton, chairing the meeting, and David Hughes clashed over the number of questions being asked.
This led to Cllr Burton leaving the meeting and handing leadership of it to Cllr Sue Burfoot, making comments insinuating that he would be better off outside of his group.
Luke Harwood, speaking on behalf of the Acorn Meadows residents group, said he and his family moved to the village in 2020 seeking a “tranquil rural lifestyle synonymous with country living”.
He said: “Regrettably this tranquillity turned out to be less enduring than I had anticipated.”
Mr Harwood said “Brailsford is full” and that there was already an “oversaturation of properties”, claiming several homes were being repeatedly marketed without success.
Other members of the residents group spoke of issues with the village’s infrastructure including high numbers of HGVS and lorries along with parking for the nearby primary school.
They claimed Brailsford Primary School has been at full capacity for several years, which was confirmed by the council’s development manager, Chris Whitmore. The Government’s listing for the school shows it has a capacity for 120 pupils but has 146 on roll.
Cllr Gillian Woodhouse, speaking on behalf of Brailsford and Ednaston Parish Council, said: “We in Brailsford are suffering from crumbling infrastructure.
“Many now have to go to Ashbourne for GP services because our surgery cannot cope.
“Our children are not guaranteed a
place at the local primary school because the school is oversubscribed.
“I doubt that the proposal by the applicant to provide three extra KS1 [key stage 1] places and four KS2 [key stage 2] places will be enough. Our surface and sewage drains are often overwhelmed. The sewage has to regularly be removed by a tanker as the treatment facility cannot cope with it.
“There is increased significant flooding over the A52 due to the outdated pipework and drains. More development means less land to absorb the water.
“If this development takes place the effect on the residents of Blackthorn Close will be unacceptable. They will experience increased traffic, noise and movement both during construction and afterwards. The visual enjoyment of their outlook will be completely destroyed. Congestion will be increased to the junction of this site where lorries, school traffic and the speed of vehicles can make it very dangerous. “Brailsford has had its fair share of development over the past years, any further development would impact negatively on the quality of life of many people.”
Stuart Wells, agent for the developers, described the planned houses as a “logical extension” of the village that represented the second phase of the Acorn Meadows scheme.
Mr Whitmore said the council had
deemed the site developable for housing.
He said: “The existing development is the first thing you see when you approach Brailsford (from the north) and bringing development closer to the main road will result in the development being even more prominent.
“However, whilst there would be some impacts, in the context of that existing development and that existing built form, those impacts were not felt to be sufficiently harmful to be unacceptable in landscape terms.”
Cllr Hughes then announced he wanted to ask five questions of council officers, before being told by Cllr Burton that he could only ask three. Cllr Hughes then said he had never heard of such a rule and would ask other councillors to take on his additional questions, saying: “I am not going to be shut down.”
Cllr Burton replied that he was not shutting anyone down, saying: “I am entitled to get worked up as you are and you are doing me no favours
David.
“You’re out of order, David, and it leaves a lot to be desired. David is a grown-up man and if that is the best he can do to a fellow colleague then it’s time I weren’t even in our group.”
Kerry France, the council’s legal services manager, said there was no limit on the number of questions councillors could ask but there was a limit in the public speaking section of the meeting.
Mr Whitmore, claimed it was “generally accepted” that the sewage and drainage network is creaking.
He said the developer would be asked to give money for improvements to a nearby play area instead of building a new one.
Mr Whitmore said the number of pupils at schools in the Dales was declining, in part due to its older and ageing demographic. However, he said “Brailsford does have a need for school places and is at capacity”.
He said the Government encourages developers to build “tree-lined streets” on new schemes but this was not mandatory and officers felt it was not necessary on this scheme because it would not blend with phase one of the development and they would rather see trees border the development in a bid to block it from view.
Cllr Hughes asked that the decision should be deferred pending further information from highways, flood officials and Severn Trent in relation to the drainage and sewage network.
Cllr Peter Slack said: “We do need housing, we all realise that, we desperately need housing. I am not against it but it has not been done properly.
“There is lots more to be added to this application.”
Cllr Anthony Bates said: “There’s so many unanswered questions. It is constantly flooded by the Rose and Crown on the A52 and this has only just happened since the new developments have been put in place.
“The infrastructure is broken, I think we are quite clear on that. Brailsford has had more than enough in the village.
“Brailsford has had the brunt of this at the moment and this is just too much for it.”
Councillors unanimously deferred a decision on the plans.
Our children are not guaranteed a place at the local primary school because the school is oversubscribed. Cllr Gillian Woodhouse