After updating its Local Plan for the next decade of development, Derbyshire Dales District Council is putting the document to its latest test of public opinion – and hoping to avoid some of the controversies which dogged the previous edition.

At an extraordinary full council meeting on Thursday, July 22, members approved the updated Derbyshire Dales Local Plan for consultation, beginning a six-week process on Monday, August 3.

The consultation will allow members of the public to submit their comments on the draft plan, which sets out how those parts of the district outside of the Peak District National Park should evolve over the next 15 years.

Councillor Peter O’Brien, chair of the Local Plan Committee said: "This consultation is probably the most important part of the Local Plan.

Derbyshire Dales District Council has drawn up a revised list of 28 sites which it may earmark for 2,133 new homes. (Photo: Eddie Bisknell)

placeholder image — Derbyshire Dales District Council has drawn up a revised list of 28 sites which it may earmark for 2,133 new homes. (Photo: Eddie Bisknell)

"It will give our local communities the opportunity to let us, and the Government’s Planning Inspector, know what they think about how and where we propose to accommodate new housing development, including the provision of essential community facilities, and on the range of policies covering topics such climate change, employment, tourism and the environment.

“Their views will then be considered by the Government’s independent Planning Inspector as they make their decision about whether to accept the new Local Plan.”

The original Local Plan was adopted in 2017, covering the period up to 2033, but it must be updated every five years.

Those five years have been eventful at the town hall, not least with the administration changing from Conservative to a ‘progressive alliance’ of Labour, Liberal Democrats and Greens.

In planning terms, the council has been snared in some protracted disputes, notably over the Wolds site in Matlock, where the Planning Inspectorate ultimately blocked an application to build several hundred homes on land which had been ringfenced in the Local Plan.

A series of such cases requiring national-level intervention brought the authority close to the point where planning powers could have been taken out of local hands altogether.

The Wolds site has now been removed from the plan, but the council remains under pressure to support development and encourage growth.

It faces the perennial problem of protecting the area’s largely rural character while meeting targets for Government priorities like housebuilding using only land outside of the national park boundary – which has a planning regime of its own.

While much of that construction will revolve around market towns like Ashbourne, Bakewell, Matlock and Wirksworth, the council is also drawing up long-range schemes including one or more whole new villages.

The six-week consultation follows two earlier rounds of public consultation, held in 2022 and 2024, said to have received a significant number of responses which helped shape the latest version of the Local Plan, as have meetings with a number of town and parish councils over the past two months.

To allow people find out more about the updated Local Plan and how to respond to the consultation, DDDC officers will be holding drop-in events at Matlock Town Hall, 2-7pm on Tuesday, August 11, and Ashbourne Leisure Centre, 2-7pm on Wednesday, September 9.

Online sessions will also be accessible via Microsoft Teams, 5-7pm on Tuesday, August 25, and noon to 2pm on Tuesday, September 1. Email [email protected] for more details.

Cllr O’Brien said: “The exhibitions in Ashbourne and Matlock will give residents the chance to look in detail at our proposals, to meet us in person and to let us have their comments.”

Copies of the draft Local Plan and supporting documents will be available to view on the council’s website, at Matlock Town Hall, Ashbourne Leisure Centre and in Ashbourne, Wirksworth and Matlock libraries.

Once the consultation officially opens, comments should be submitted through the formal process otherwise they cannot be considered.

Once this final consultation has closed, the Council will consider the representations received and how to respond to them before the Local Plan is submitted to the Secretary of State in December, then subjected to a legal Examination in Public in 2027 before likely adoption in early 2028.

More information, including frequently asked questions and the portal to submit comments can be found at www.derbyshiredales.gov.uk/local-plan-consultation.