Government inspector throws out plans to build 'ugly' bungalow close to listed north Derbyshire hall

Developer Tim Knight appealed against North East Derbyshire District Council’s decision to reject planning permission for a four-bedroomed bungalow, with garage and carport, on the site close to Wingerworth Hall.

The planning inspector’s decision to dismiss the appeal has been welcomed by Chesterfield and District Civic Society, which described the proposed large and ‘timber-framed’ bunglaow as ‘ugly’.

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Society chairman Philip Riden said: “The inspector’s report was quite strongly worded and should deter any renewed attempt to build a large house on this land.

"The outline planning consent granted in 2018 for a ‘modest, well designed’ bungalow on the plot remains in force.”

Government planning inspector Julie Dale, who visited the site in January, said the ‘main issue’ was the effect of the proposal on Grade II Listed buildings and ‘on the setting of a non-designated historical asset’.

She said the ‘unacceptability’ of the proposal was ‘exacerbated’ by its proximity to Wingerworth Hall ‘where a higher standard of development would be required that preserved and enhanced the setting’.

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"The impact of the proposal is worsened still further by the likely affect on trees on the site,” her report adds.

She also said the plans represented an ‘overdevelopment’ of the site.

The report says: “I note that the principle of developing this site for one dwelling is established by an extant outline planning approval but although some matters were reserved for subsequent approval, the plan accompanying the outline application indicates a much smaller footprint on the appeal site and does not justify this substantially larger one that I consider represents the overdevelopment of the plot.”

Wingerworth Hall dates back to 1600 and was turned into a grand stately home in the 1720s.

Much of it was demolished in 1924 but two lodges flanking the entrance to its driveway have been converted into family homes – with one up for sale earlier this year.

Local landowners the Hunloke family were involved with the hall over 11 generations and about 400 years, according to historians of the building.

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