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Sunday, 1st August 2010

Stop criticising flats

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Published Date: 10 March 2010
Madam,

I am tired of reading letters criticising the new flats on Bakewell Road. Cheap witticisms about 'Cell Block H' aside, what the critics seem to have forgotten is that this development is being built for local people who cannot afford the high house prices our lovely area commands.
Do they really want local young people looking for their first home to be forced into leaving the town in which they have been brought up?

Do they want Matlock to become a lifeless dormitory for the middle-aged, middle-class?

The new flats provide a much needed first step for young people as well as for the wheelchair-bound and other less well-off members of our community. Economics dictate that the provision of 'affordable' homes must be 'affordably' built and on 'affordable' land.

I for one welcome this wholly appropriate and sustainable re-use of a derelict industrial site.

Robert Evans
Knowleston Place
Matlock Green



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  • Last Updated: 11 March 2010 11:02 AM
  • Source: n/a
  • Location: Matlock
 
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1

Yorkie21,

11/03/2010 19:01:58
Hurrah at last the Mercury has printed a letter from someone with sense
2

Matlock mum,

matlock 16/03/2010 13:02:52
Couldn't agree more. I think the flats look fine and they will be very much appreciated by people looking for affordable accommodation. They are near amenities and maybe quite popular.

What is really horrible is the empty and decrepit small units on the other side of the road, and boarded up shops. They say more about a town which is struggling and doing something to clean up and bring activity to them, even on a temporary basis would really lift the town.

It would also be nice to see some decent planting or decoration. Why is the new roundabout so boring? The Sainsbury road boundary wall so blank?

Plant some trees. Get out some green paint. Involve some young people in making some art.

3

wenapea,

Matlock 16/03/2010 16:14:29
The flats may not be to everybody's taste, but at least they are not disneyfied olde-world fake victorian. I agree with Robert, that they are a good use of a brownfield site, providing affordable housing.
I would be interested to find out about the materials used and the sustainability of the building.
4

Rhoda Hamer,

Tansley 16/03/2010 17:31:50
I see that each of the flats now has a balcony - good thinking Planners - now the residents can sit out on the balcony and be choked by car fumes, particularly at bank holiday times when the traffic on Bakewell Road is always jammed. The future residents deserve better. I also agree with Matlock Mum that the boarded up buildings on the opposite side of the road are an absolute eyesore - Just before the traffic island into Matlock there is a sign telling visitors they are approaching the historic town of Matlock - then they are faced with the derelict approach with the boarded up buildings followed by a hotch potch of businesses in buildings of dubious design i.e. wine bar, car sales, wooden shacks etc. that you wonder how planning permission was granted for them - but then again - with DDDC Planning Committee record perhaps not.
5

chig72,

darley dale 22/03/2010 16:48:17
The masonry used on the flats is from a local quarry in birchover so its good quality stone . Give the flats a break they dont look bad and sometimes you now go past without even noticing them and as for calling them tower blocks.. slight exageration there i think! Sort out the old kennings garage sight now there is an unwelcome sight for the tourists!
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