Plans approved for huge Chesterfield development promising 650 homes and up to 800 jobs

Outline plans for an extension to the Markham Vale business park, including 68,000 square metres of warehousing, offices, parking and access road, were approved by Chesterfield Borough Council’s Planning Committee yesterday (December 12) for land to the north east of the existing Markham Vale site and M1 and south west of the Seymour Link Road, Woodthorpe.

In the same meeting, updated plans for surface water drainage and road layout were also granted outline permission for an existing application of 650 homes, leisure and health facilities on a neighbouring site south of off Worksop Road, Mastin Moor.

Both applications had been made by Devonshire Property Ltd, the development branch of the trustees of Chatsworth Settlement, with the plans for Markham Vale being submitted jointly with partners MVNE LLP.

Andrew Byrne, of the Devonshire Property Group, said: “We are delighted that the planning committee has approved these exciting projects.

“They will bring hundreds of much needed new jobs and homes to the area and, just as importantly, throughout their development we are taking a considered and sensitive approach to improving environmental standards and to the provision of training and skills.”

Five per cent of the Mastin Moor homes will be affordable, the development also features a residential care home, shops and 20 hectares of new parkland.

“As part of this development we’re particularly proud to provide a home for the Construction Skills Hub, a council-sponsored, Staveley Town Deal project that will deliver a range of vocational courses designed to upskill the workforce in both current construction techniques and those required to create the sustainable homes and workplaces of the future,” Mr Byrne continued.

“The extension to the business park at Markham Vale is expected to create up to 800 new jobs for local people at what is a very successful development already supporting 2,700 jobs in a variety of sectors.”

The commercial development includes a landscaping plan to improve the river corridor, as well as tree and hedgerow planting.

Devonshire Property Ltd also plans to work with Derbyshire Wildlife Trust to improve the wildlife habitats on a nearby site with the aim of achieving an overall 10 per cent net gain in biodiversity.

In the planning meeting, Woodthorpe resident Carl Carnell raised concerns over the loss of green space that would result from the Markham Vale extension, commenting that it would have an adverse affect on his health, as well as the quality of life of the people living in the nearby Mastin Moor development, once it was built.

However councillors welcomed the opportunity for economic growth that was afforded by the commercial units.