Renewed bid for holiday lodges on contaminated site in Chesterfield is rejected by council's planning committee
A businessman has failed in his renewed bid for planning permission to install 15 holiday lodges on a contaminated former landfill site in Chesterfield.
James Cash’s application for Mayfields, Hady Lane has been turned down by the borough council on the grounds that the site is actively gassing and it is not considered feasible for the land to be made reasonably safe and fit for the proposed use.
Opposition and support for the proposal were summarised in a report to the planning committee from an officer who recommended that the application be refused.
The comments from 14 contributors opposing the scheme included:
*Development of this unsafe site will impact on the health of local residents;
*There is a risk of gas explosions, the site is not suitable for development;
*The site is located on a busy road with traffic issues at school pick-up and drop off times;
*Unacceptable use in a quiet residential location;
*Adverse impact on wildlife.
Eleven contributors supported the proposal and cited:
*Jobs boost for local people and a boost to the town’s tourism;
*Investment in the town;
*Good for the town and a stone’s throw from the town centre;
*Good for people visiting or working at the hospital;
*Gassing report evidences that the development would be safe.
A Travellers’ site is next to the land that was proposed for the holiday lodges. The officer’s report stated: “It is acknowledged from the planning history that smaller developments for pitches only, have been approved adjacent to this application site and were subject to mitigation including the provision of hard standing and gas membranes. This planning history has to be considered in its context in terms of the small number of Traveller pitches proposed in those cases. It is also noted that the fewer number occupying those sites, as managed by the applicant, would be aware of the gassing issues on site and the associated risks. In this case the proposal is for a much larger area covered by the landfill, and with a more substantial development of 15 pitches and shop/reception area and play area with occupiers being temporary visitors considered less likely to be aware of the site issues and risks.”
Under the proposal the timber lodges would have a ventilation floor void of approximately 63.5cm above the ground under each unit.
Andrew Buroni, Director of Health and Social Impact Assessment at Savills, wrote: “The application is for mobile lodges that will sit on a concrete slab, they are not permanent structures, have a low mass, and do not require substantial foundations to be dug, or gas water and waste infrastructure to be installed. The slab itself is for the stability of the lodge but also spreads the weight over a larger surface area removing risk of, or from subsidence.
“The construction process is similar to that for a shed, where you “scratch back” the immediate surface or vegetation, place the membrane, frame and pour a concrete slab to the required raised depth, allow to cure and then roll the lodge on the slab. It is not an aggressive construction process.
"Scratching back the immediate vegetation layer to pour a 150mm slab will in no way risk the integrity of the landfill cap, where there will still be a minimum depth of 1 metre of soil before the capping protection layer.
"The proposed construction method and mitigation therefore removes any credible risk to the capping layer; the concrete slabs prevent risk of causing, or damage from subsidence, and the previously listed mitigation removes any credible risk of methane pooling and explosion at the site.”
An application to site the lodges and a shop on the site was refused by the council in June 2024.
Mr Cash runs a successful tourist lodge park in Norfolk and wanted to replicate this in Derbyshire.