'I do not want to live in the middle of a housing estate, surrounded by roads" Concerns about plans for additional 547 new homes in Derbyshire town

An application by Strata Homes, Persimmon Homes and Stancliffe Homes to Bolsover District Council seeks approval of a reserved matters application for residential development on land between Welbeck Road and Oxcroft Lane, Bolsover, a town park and a spine road requiring the demolition of 34-40 Longlands and 42 Welbeck Road.

The proposal forms part of a wider application for 950 houses split across three villages (East Village, West Village and Town’s Edge), a 70-unit extra care facility and a primary school which received outline planning permission in 2017. Two phases of the development – to the east and to the west – are partially completed.

Properties proposed for the latest phase range from two-bedroom to five-bedroom houses. Access to the site would be from Bennett Way to the east (the section of the link road which runs through the first phase), two connection points to Oxcroft Lane to the west and a new connection from Longlands to the south.

Damian Matthias has written to the council stating: “This development has confirmed my desire to leave Bolsover. I do not want to live in the middle of a housing estate with no green spaces, surrounded by roads that cannot cope with the volume of traffic and a town with a complete lack of services.

“Let’s be honest, this request for residents' views is disingenuous, the development will go ahead regardless of what residents say or any concerns they raise. The current developments on Welbeck Road have done nothing to address the single file nature of Marlpit Lane even though residents expressed concerns about this. I have been unable to find any documents on this latest development that show how Marlpit Lane will be widened to cope with the additional traffic.

“Residents raised concerns about the impact on nature and biodiversity previously and were ignored, this latest development does nothing to address those same concerns.

“The current development has shown the lack of thought for residents. We have been left without water and electricity due to the incompetence of the developers and received no apology. We have had driveways blocked with no prior notice and again no apology for the inconvenience, simply told to "park somewhere else". The works have left Welbeck Road covered in mud and house fronts covered in dirt/dust.

“We were told that Elmton Lane would not be used by the developers to access the site, and yet they have done this on numerous occasions without any regard to residents and the local authority have done nothing to address it. This new development will no doubt continue this trend.

“Residents are concerned that the development, especially the school, will result in cars parking on Elmton Lane and causing issues for residents in gaining access to their property. I have lived next to a school before and I know from experience how disruptive that can be, regardless of what so-called experienced planning staff say.

“Bolsover is going down the pan and this latest development is further evidence to that.”