Derbyshire community protest against new homes could choke Friday night traffic
Motorists travelling through Staveley tonight may want to consider alternative routes as a community protest against plans for a new housing development aims to bring 200 cars together on a country lane to drive home their argument.
Residents in the Bent Lane area are are staging a photo opportunity at 7pm to demonstrate the problems they predict for local infrastructure if the Chesterfield Borough Council housing scheme is approved by the authority’s own planning committee.
A spokesperson for the event said: “The local residents are conducting their own impact survey by asking 200 cars to descend on the lane – because this is the amount of cars that will be using Bent Lane daily if the development goes ahead.”
Organisers intend to have aerial drones overhead to monitor the traffic tonight and document the results to present to the planning committee.
The planning application has attracted hundreds of responses from local residents and statutory consultees including highways authority Derbyshire County Council.
In their submission, an officer identified a number of road safety and access issues with the application and said the borough had given little detail as to how these would be addressed, and had modelled some of its traffic figures based on 140 new homes rather than the expected 200.
Residents also fear such a major population increase would inevitably affect other amenities too.
The protest spokesperson said: “The proposed development is adjacent to Norbriggs Flash Nature Reserve, causing untold damage to a much-loved local resource. The burden on local NHS services has already raised concerns with the relevant bodies, prompting them to request a minimum payment of £200,000 to support additional GP services.”