Detailed design for new 79-home estate near Chesterfield revealed

Woodhall Homes has permission to build the properties on land to the west of Oaks Farm Lane, Calow, and has now published information about the scale and type of housing it will be building.

It is expected the planning permission from North East Derbyshire District Council will pave the way for a further 144 homes – which will form the second phase of the development.

Some residents in Calow are concerned about being surrounded by new housing estates and Calow Parish Council has called for changes to the way the development is accessed.

Woodhall Homes is now seeking planning permission for the design of the homes.

A design and access statement, published this week on the council website, promises a ‘high quality and sympathetically designed’ development.

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Developers say it will benefit from ‘close links to the existing infrastructure and services on Top Road and sustainable travel methods into Chesterfield, and other local destinations’.

“The proposed dwellings comprise a variety of different house types and sizes, with a mixture of one, two, three and four bedrooms,” the statement adds.

“The appearance of dwellings will be traditional in both detail and style and will utilise a mix of high quality building materials and design features to effectively integrate the proposed development with the locality’s built form and landscape character.

"A comprehensive landscaping scheme will be implemented, which provides for undeveloped areas of green infrastructure and includes wildlife-friendly attenuation basins, native planting and ensures no net loss of hedgerow.”

Some of the homes will be bungalows and one-fifth of the properties will be ‘affordable’.

Calow Parish Council has carried out a survey which has raised ‘many safety concerns’. The council has called for an access road at the back of houses on Top Road to reduce these fears.

Developers have confirmed they intend there to be a single point of access for cars, from Top Road via Oaks Farm Lane.

Parish council chair Jayne Sabido previously said: “Although we have many concerns regarding the number of approved planning applications outside the recently approved Local Plan in Calow, we are hoping to work with North East Derbyshire District Council to ensure the existing residents are not disadvantaged by external planning decisions.”