A6 roundabout could lead to 500 homes
A NEW roundabout could be built on the A6 through Derbyshire that would enable hundreds of houses to be built, redirect troublesome HGVs and manage long-standing traffic issues.
The application, submitted by Derbyshire County Council, would see a new four-arm 40-metre roundabout built on the A6 in Buxton at an expected cost of £3 million.
Traffic along Fairfield Road and past the golf course frequently brings the town’s main artery to a standstill. The scheme would, if approved, open up land for two housing sites, totalling nearly 500 homes north of the town and also business space expansion at the Tongue Lane Industrial Estate.
As it stands, HGVs currently leave the A6 and take narrow residential roads to get to the industrial estate.
The council says this “has numerous health and safety implications for the local residents and has a negative impact on local noise levels and the local air quality”.
In planning documents, the council says that up to 139 houses could be built on fields west of Tongue Lane in Fairfield, the industrial estate could get a fiveacre extension to create more jobs, a further 330 homes have historically been approved at Waterswallows Farm in Fairfield – to the east of the A6 – and there is another housing site at Hogshaw, west of the A6.
Development of the new sites requires infrastructure improvement to stem the increase in traffic from the new homes and provide proper and sustainable access routes.
The council also sees it as a chance to solve traffic woes for the top of the town and those travelling in and out of Buxton.
Papers submitted with the application say that High Peak Borough Council supports the principle of the proposal, due to being a “long-standing aspiration of the council, having been included within the borough’s local plans since 1998 and having gained planning consent previously”.
Government-backed housing organisation Homes England is providing two-thirds of the £3 million total cost of the project, with the remainder being met by developers.