Derbyshire residents fear rural land grab and threat to Green Belt as drive to meet housing shortage highlights 300 sites

Labour-controlled NE Derbyshire District Council launched a Local Plan public consultation in June inviting landowners, developers and organisations to identify potential development sites for housing and other uses as part of the council’s Call for Sites initiative to meet the huge national demand for new homes.

Participants have already selected 343 potential development sites across North East Derbyshire for consideration including 293 for housing.

Conservative District Cllr Alex Dale, who shares residents’ concerns, hosted three meetings in Dronfield, Unstone and Apperknowle which attracted around 250 residents.

Cllr Dale said: “In places like Dronfield, Unstone and our surrounding villages, local infrastructure is already stretched to breaking point – from GP surgeries to our road capacity.

“It’s simply not possible to accommodate this scale of growth without a fundamental and costly rethink of our local services.

“We’re also extremely concerned about the threat to our Green Belt, which plays a vital role in preventing urban sprawl from Sheffield, preserving the unique character of our towns and villages and providing a home for our much-loved flora and fauna. Once it’s gone, it’s gone for good – and we owe it to future generations to fight to protect it.”

However, the council said it needs to find land to accommodate over 12,000 new homes over the next 20 years after the Government has set a target to build one-and-a-half million homes in England in five years.

Under new planning rules, the Government has prioritised building on previously developed brownfield-used land to reduce environmental impacts but it has also introduced the new ‘Grey Belt’ land definition to allow and encourage more developments on low-quality Green Belt areas.

Conservative Cllr Charlotte Cupit previously stated that if changes were to go ahead they would ‘concrete over our countryside’ something disputed by the NE Derbyshire District Council Leader Cllr Nigel Barker.

Cllr Dale said: “We’re deeply concerned about the Labour Government’s new mandatory housing targets for North East Derbyshire, which have increased by 164per cent on the previous Government’s advisory ones, at a time when nearby cities like Sheffield and Derby have seen theirs reduced by 20 to 25per cent.

“If accepted, this deeply unfair policy would lead to an unsustainable and unprecedented 25 to 30per cent increase in our population over the next 20 years, which is simply not justified.

“That level of growth is completely unrealistic for a largely rural area like ours and we’re urging the district council to stand up to the Government and make the case for a lower target that reflects local circumstances.”

Cllr Dale explained the Call for Sites initiative identifies land for development including sites for housing, employment, biodiversity and Travellers.

He said that recently issued maps have revealed a ‘worrying number of submissions’ around Dronfield and its surrounding villages, including on Green Belt land.

Cllr Dale added: “While not all sites will make it through the technical assessment process, it’s clear that developers are circling – and this new Local Plan, combined with a weakened national policy on protecting Green Belt land, means our open spaces are now under greater threat than ever before.”

The council launched its North East Derbyshire Local Plan: Issues and Options public consultation on June 19 and residents have until August 14 to submit comments.

Cllr Dale said: “As Conservative Councillors, we’ll be doing everything we can to stand up for our Green Belt and make the case that these targets are totally unrealistic and unfair for our communities – but it’s absolutely vital that residents make their voices heard too.”

Potential sites attracting concerns include those around Stubley Hollow, Callywhite Lane, and Holmley Common, at Dronfield, as well as one at Longcroft Road, in Dronfield Woodhouse.

Others include Apperknowle, and St John’s Road, Crow Lane and at Pooh Corner house sanctuary, at Unstone, and there are three rural areas at Barlow including to the east of Valley Road, to the north of Millcross Lane and a smaller site east and further north of Valley Road.

Unstone resident Ian Taylor said: “I believe there are plenty of brownfield sites where we see derelict areas where they are not countryside or Green Belt that I feel would sustain housing requirements.

“I think development is necessary but it has to be in the right place that matters.”

Mr Taylor argued the St John’s Road and Crow Lane areas of Unstone are not suitable for developments because traffic access issues would bring ‘chaos’ and the infrastructure would be ‘inadequate’.

He added the use of Green Belt land would see the loss of lovely views’ and significantly affect the heritage value of the area’s former mining cottages.

Unstone resident Christine Nelson said: “We are quite a way from any decisions being made but we should be looking at brownfield sites first before any consideration is given to greenfield or Green Belt land.”

Ms Nelson added that she recognises there is a housing issue but she does not think using countryside or Green Belt land is the way to solve it.

Terri Amber, of Pooh Corner Home for Rescued Horses and Ponies, at Unstone, said: “I think the target is unrealistic. North East Derbyshire is a small area relatively speaking and rural and the belt of countryside between Chesterfield and Sheffield and out to Clay Cross is going to end up built-up and we will lose it all.

“And it’s concerning for wildlife because it will push that out and people who actually live there will be crowded out and it will affect their quality of life.”

Ms Amber, who runs Pooh Corner as a community interest, non-profit company on land rented from the council, is very worried because one potential development site being proposed falls at the ‘hub’ of where the sanctuary is based.

She added: “It is also about the character of a village because we cannot end up in a big sprawl that will mean places lose identity and character.”

Dronfield Woodhouse resident Melanie Stanney argued the earmarked site at Longcroft Road would remove a greenfield boundary between North East Derbyshire and Sheffield, and the area’s flood risk, infrastructure, roads and schools cannot support such an anticipated increase in population.

Cllr Cupit said: “We’re really concerned by the massive new Government housing requirements that have been imposed on our area at the same time as cities have been told they don’t need to build as many.

“Areas like Clay Cross, Wingerworth and Shirland are already having thousands of new homes built.

“We also don’t think we’ve got the infrastructure – roads, schools, doctors. So we pushed the council to raise concerns with the Government previously and ask for a re-think – though the Labour-run district council didn’t seem to think there was a problem with finding sites for a further 12,000 new homes in our area over the coming years.”

Council Leader, Cllr Nigel Barker highlighted the housing crisis needs addressing because 25 per cent of ‘households’ in North East Derbyshire were unable to afford an affordable home and that over 2,200 people were on a waiting list in need of affordable housing in the district.

The council stated it recognises that people value the rural nature of the district but it also needs to find land to accommodate over 12,000 new homes over the next 20 years while working within national guidelines.

A council spokesperson said: “We acknowledge in the current consultation that a lot of people will want to focus on the sites that have been submitted to us for consideration. The difficulty at this point is that the process is nowhere near advanced enough to have any certainty on which of those sites are actually candidates for allocation in a draft version of the Local Plan.

“To be absolutely clear, the sites have been put forward by the landowners or representatives, these are not sites that the planning department have selected for consideration.”