Bid to build 70 new homes in Bolsover raises concerns about impact on health services, traffic and loss of green belt land

An application has been submitted to the district council for the erection of the houses, which includes seven affordable homes, on land between Leaholme And Fallows End and to the rear of Mill Lane.

The application, submitted by Jones Homes (Yorkshire) Ltd , shows that there would be 63 homes with 4+ bedrooms while the seven affordable homes would have three bedrooms. It marks the applicant’s third phase of a development in the area; to the east and north of the proposed site, phase one is complete and phase two (Cavendish Park) that has planning permission for 139 new homes is well advanced.

Concerns about the impact on health services, traffic and the loss of green belt land have been raised by three residents of Shuttlewood Road to the latest application.

Anni Morris commented: “Bolsover has grown immensely in the last 20 years - the council have 'proudly' approved housing estate after housing estate, mostly on green field sites. When approving all these housing estates, no consideration seems to have been given to infrastructure - we have thousands of new residents. We have the same number of doctors we had before all the building started - it's now almost impossible to get a face to face doctor's appointment). We do not have ANY dentists - I and many other long term residents are now unable to get a NHS dentist anywhere in the surrounding area.”

Thomas Roe wrote: “Bolsover has already seen a large amount of housing built in the last few years taking away large amounts of green belt land, this has already had an impact on wildlife, town’s infrastructure and local amenities such as doctors surgeries and schools.”

Donna Stoker said: “Mill Lane can only facilitate single file traffic and the proposed new entrance on Shuttlewood Road, at the brow of a hill and on a bend is a danger. With regard to nature, we regularly see barn owls and should this development go ahead then they will obviously not appear. We have already seen a massive decline in the wildlife and birds that we used to see, and are concerned at the overdevelopment of Bolsover.”

Bolsover District Council’s decision on the application is pending.