Anger as plans for dozens of new homes given go ahead in Derbyshire village already at 'breaking point'

Bolsover District Council has given the green light for 62 homes to be built on land off Park Avenue, Glapwell, despite more than 60 letters of complaint from concerned villagers.

The council’s own planning team also called for the proposal to be thrown out because it ‘would fail to comply with relevant policies which seek to prevent inappropriate development within the countryside’.

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However, councillors on the authority’s planning committee gave the applicants, Glapwell Nurseries, the go ahead last month.

Residents say the development will cause traffic chaos and that Glapwell’s schools, shops and other facilities will be unable to cope with the influx of new families.

Sarah Bister said: “The application states that about 150 cars would have to drive along my street. A street not designed for this as was it built in the 1940’s.

“The planning department didn’t recommend the application but the councillors said the material gains outweighed the local plan that it went against.

“There were over 60 letters of objection. All ignored. A public forum of over 100 residents expressed their objections to representatives of Bolsover District Council.”

Another resident, Rob Mason, said the development ‘would stretch the amenities to breaking point’.

“The village cannot cope with any additional traffic travelling through it,” he said. “The village of Glapwell is becoming a car park. Is there any regard to the pollution which will be caused by the additional vehicles?

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“Is there any regard to the health of our children who have to breathe in the fumes caused by the traffic? Is there any regard to the safety of our children who have to cross the road in the village?”

In planning documents, officers urged that the plans should be refused because they ‘would interrupt rural views throughout the site, causing irreprable harm to its rural appearance, and landscape character through unnecessary urbansation and sprawl’.

A Bolsover District Council spokesperson said the planning decision could ‘still be subject to judicial review’ so the authority could not comment further.