New homes plan given go-ahead on contaminated Derbyshire site

The land at Pit Hill, Whaley Thorns, near Bolsover, includes a collection of old industrial buildings and would require the removal of existing contamination from the site before building work gets underway.

Bolsover District Council’s planning committee gave the proposal the go-ahead at a meeting yesterday.

Council planning officers had recommended the plans were approved if a number of conditions were set.

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Case officer Steve Phillips said in a report ahead of the meeting: “This is an application for the demolition of the old pithead baths buildings, the removal of contamination on that site and the former scrap yard to the south of it, re-profiling of the land and the construction of 36 dwellings.”

He said it was an area in which ‘residential development is generally acceptable’ but consideration needed to be given to the loss of the pithead baths buildings and whether permission should be granted without any contributions for local infrastructure.

Mr Phillips added that redevelopment and restoration of a polluted brownfield site and an opportunity to improve ‘the character of the area at an entrance point into the village of Whaley Thorns’ weighed in its favour.

The new homes will be accessed via a new cul-de-sac road from Pit Hill.

The application received some objections over the loss of employment from demolishing the industrial buildings, as at present the equivalent of five full time employees work onsite.