Chesterfield residents voice anger over 400 homes on green fields decision

Barratt Homes already had outline permission to build the properties on a triangular shaped area of land off Inkersall Road at Staveley.

Chesterfield Borough Council’s planning committee last week gave the company the green light for its detailed designs of the new properties.

Councillors voted unanimously to approve the plans at a meeting on Monday, February 21, after an officer's report said ‘significant work’ had taken place to improve the house designs.

However, many people commenting abut the story on our Facebook page were angered by another lost green space in the borough.

Sue Rogers said: “More green fields going. With all this trouble in the world we need those fields to grow food for us.

"Why not turn redundant retail property into residential use?”

Peter Thompson posted that the council ‘needs the sack’.

"People have had enough of new builds, there will be no green fields left at this rate,” he added.

Concerns were also raised that schools, GP surgeries and dentists would be overwhelmed by 400 new homes.

MORE: 'People have a voice and must use it': How determined group of Chesterfield residents are fighting 500-home green fields development

Shelby Brown posted: “Services are already over stretched as is and the need for the services already outweigh demand.

"Not just GPs, with most NHS services. I don't think any thought has gone into this aspect at all.”

Tom Hurst posted that he was concerned an increase in development would lead to more flooding.

He said: “I'm sure with all the flooding that concrete will do a better job of soaking it up.”

A planning officer report published ahead of the meeting said: “The site is currently green field land with a central corridor forming a water course which crosses the site in a diagonal east to west.”

Barratt Homes was given outline planning permission for the site in August 2020.

Council planning officers say ‘significant negotiation’ has taken place since then to ‘improve the layout of the development’, provide green spaces and the ‘creation of a sense of place’.

There will be a mixture of two, three and four-bedroom homes, with seven per cent allocated to be ‘affordable’.