Derbyshire ‘PEAK Resort’ scheme gets go-ahead despite traffic and pollution fears

Peak Gateway Properties Ltd has already been granted outline planning permission by Chesterfield Borough Council for the PEAK Gateway Resort development at The Brushes, off Sheffield Road, at the former Birchall Golf Course and Brierley Wood and Roughpiece Woods, in Chesterfield, on Green Belt land, near to the A61 Dronfield bypass and Unstone Green.

And on Monday, March 11, the council’s planning committee further approved three final reserved matters concerning permitted uses for the resort buildings, their re-arranged locations and the reconfiguring of access routes for a much reduced project than the one which had originally been granted permission.

Cllr Martin Stone, Cabinet Member for Climate Change, Planning and Environment, said: “We always have the same dilemma that we cannot have a development without impact whether it’s traffic or whatever.

“There is no doubt we need economic growth. We need jobs for the future and we need things for young people to use.

“I quite like this scheme. It’s positive about the environment and has taken measures to address those concerns.

“I’m really conscious of the fact that people have come to register their concerns. I do feel overall we need the balance. We need growth and this takes into consideration where the future is heading and it’s a little bit more sensitive to these impacts than traditional developers.”

Peak Gateway Properties claims the resort has the potential to create over 1,000 new jobs and it will be working with the education sector to deliver a Green Skills Academy in support of both the resort and Chesterfield’s commitment to training especially for construction and tourism.

Following much consideration and speeches from campaigners and farmers James Allsop and Robert Wilson, who are opposed to the 300-acre site with concerns for pollution and traffic congestion, and from Peak Gateway director Rupert Carr, the planning committee voted in favour of approving the three reserved matters.

Plans at the PEAK Gateway Resort leisure venue include a single-domed structure containing a hotel with indoor and outdoor related leisure and educational facilities on a reconfigured golf course and lake together with 250 holiday lodges with access to the site from a new roundabout at the junction of the A61 slip road with Sheffield Road.

The scheme aims to feature: A Gateway Hotel; Travel Hub & PEAK Express Terminus; Horticulture Building; Ultimate Outdoors outlet; Skills Academy & Hostel; ‘Village Shop’ Artisan Market; Kit Club; Leisure Retail spaces; Food and Beverage Outlets; The ‘Seams’ Landscaped Public Realm; 1,587 car parking spaces, 160 EV charging points and 160 cycle spaces; Coach and EV taxi parking with 17 coach parking spaces, 12 EV taxi charging and waiting bays; A perimeter loop road; A solar dome PV canopy covering 875 car parking spaces, providing green energy; A solar field providing green energy to the Gateway buildings and EV charging points; Sustainable drainage with an activity lake; And a landscaped buffer to reduce any visual impact.

However, the scheme attracted a petition from Cheetham Avenue, at Unstone, with 38 signatures, and a petition via the change.org petition website with over 1,000 signatures but the council stated only nine per cent of the change.org signatories are from Derbyshire’s Chesterfield borough, Dronfield, Unstone or Barlow.

Campaigners are concerned the scheme will bring an increase in traffic congestion – particularly on Dunston Road, Cutthorpe Road and further-a-field – as well as pollution and a possible impact upon wildlife.

Residents were shocked by the original number of proposed parking spaces and by the planned ring road around the site and some have been worried about the level of pollution and congestion that might be created, according to the council.

Many are also worried about the scheme’s possible impact on wildlife and that the resort may take business away from Chesterfield and Dronfield.

The change.org signatories argued the resort will attract too many vehicles, create pollution, harm wildlife and that its ‘park-and-ride’ scheme will take business away from Chesterfield.

Campaigner and local farmer James Allsop told the meeting: “You talked on carbon zero, but if this project is looking at 1.3m visitors to Chesterfield, with the greatest respect in the world that’s dumping a boat load of carbon on our doorstep and nobody can argue with that because that is the truth. If that is a sustainable plan – God help us all.”

Mr Allsop, who attended the meeting with fellow campaigner Chris Allsop, said he had been disappointed with the council’s prior notification on the reserved matters and he feared the development may become a travel hub.

Fellow campaigner and farmer Robert Wilson, of Birchall Farm, at Dronfield, also criticised the council’s lack of notification and opposed the scheme on the grounds of pollution and traffic congestion concerns.

He told the meeting: “I think this is a shopping centre with a hotel and not a resort.”

Mr Wilson said: “I think there is little to this development that will attract businesses from outside the local area and I do not think people are going to park cars there and get on the bus.”

He added: “I think we are faced with the possibility of thousands and thousands of cars each day. I feel the currently proposed retail complex – which is so much from the original resort [plan] – it should be considered with a new planning application.”

The planning application attracted about 57 submissions from 40 individuals who raised worries about the possible impact upon Chesterfield, the lack of local job creation, the use of a greenfield site instead of a brownfield site, and flooding concerns.

Countryside charity, CPRE, also stated it was ‘regrettable’ the scheme has been given planning permission despite its proximity to nature sites and ancient woodland but it commended the use of green energy technology.

Derbyshire County Council’s Highways Authority, Yorkshire Water, and Chesterfield Cycle Campaign raised no objections but Derbyshire Wildlife Trust, who raised no objections in principle. stated it would like to see a buffer zone between the development and ancient woodland and urged an off-site habitat creation.

Chesterfield Borough Council explained the original scheme has been reduced in height and scale with less floor space, and any prospect of an increase in traffic has also been reduced after the parking capacity for the site had been brought down from 2,850 to 1,587 and the site now offers a new roundabout on Sheffield Road to provide better access.

The Environment Agency stated that any flood risk has been addressed by the applicants and the Coal Authority has raised no concerns on the basis that any shallow coal has been removed from the former opencast area.

Chesterfield Borough Council added that any visual impacts will not be significant for nearby residents and the Peak District National Park welcomed the prospect of hotel accommodation but urged that a Peak Express travel service be provided and public transport and cycling should be encouraged.

The council hopes the scheme will boost Chesterfield’s economy and profile, create a large number of jobs and bring visitors to the region.

Chesterfield Borough Council stated ecological and environmental issues are at the heart of the scheme with a biodiversity net gain while the applicant has been trialling both hydrogen powered and electric powered buses from the site and there will be solar panels and a solar field to reduce any carbon footprint.

The PEAK Gateway Resort scheme developers say they aim to create a tourism, leisure and education destination on the edge of the Peak District National Park, comprising holiday lodges, hotel with leisure or activity facilities.

Cllr Kate Caulfield said: “I share concerns about wildlife, I share concerns about pollution but on the basis of what I see now I cannot see any planning grounds on which we can turn this down.”

Council development manager Paul Staniforth stressed the development will feature solar solar panels and a solar field with landscaping and screening as well as a sustainable drainage solution and the development remains a priority for the council’s growth strategy.

He also dismissed any ‘misguided suggestion’ the scheme is no more than a ‘park-and-ride’ for the Peak District and he argued not everyone will be coming by car because some may arrive by shuttle bus or train.

Peak Gateway director Rupert Carr said: “Peak Gateway will be part of Chesterfield, paying taxes, employing local people and bringing new people into the town and environment.”

He argued the scheme is an opportunity for Chesterfield and the region to build a significant presence by attracting over one-and-a-half million visitors and by growing the economy.

Mr Carr added: “PEAK is the opportunity to deliver a clean growth infrastructure for the regional visitor economy, an opportunity for Chesterfield and indeed the region to build a significant presence in an economic sector growing at six per cent per annum. PEAK is finally of its time.”

He also insisted the resort is not a ‘park-and-ride’ and he argued ‘the petition signed locally’ does not articulate the many other things that the resort will bring.

Council Leader, Cllr Tricia Gilby, said: “Peak Resort offers a fantastic opportunity to bring more visitors into Chesterfield, grow our local economy and create a range of new jobs.

“It will be an incredible asset for our borough and will be a national leader in respect of clean energy, zero carbon mobility and skills.

“I look forward to seeing this development take shape over the next few years.”