More than 200 “overtly contemporary” homes to be built in a derelict Derbyshire quarry - but none will be classed as affordable

At a Derbyshire Dales District Council meeting last night (Tuesday, October 10) councillors approved plans from 4M Property Partners for 220 homes, a cafe, restaurant, shops and commercial space in Hall Dale Quarry, Matlock.

The prominent site, visible from across the other side of the Matlock valley, has been a potential housing site in the offing for years, and derelict for two decades, but the cost of development has restricted its reuse.

At this week’s crunch decision meeting, councillors heard how plans would come forward and come forward promptly now the green light has been given, with work to start next Spring.

However, the final development of the site does come with a major pitfall which caused serious headaches for councillors – the total lack of affordable housing.

Councillors were concerned that the “exclusive” development could be firmly non-inclusive for a wide range of Matlock residents, including young adults looking to purchase their first home.

They stressed that it could not become a precedent or pattern for hard-to-develop and/or brownfield sites to not contain any affordable housing because it limits the profit of a would-be developer, or means it must build a different style or number of homes.

Richard Walker, of Matlock Civic Association, said the organisation had worked side-by-side with the developer on a number of issues but felt some “ultra-contemporary” house types looked “incongruous” next to more traditional property styles.

Adam Cavell, from the Nottingham-based applicants, said: “What you have before you today is our plan to create what we believe is an exemplar, potentially award-winning scheme aimed at creating a successful, safe, sustainable high-quality place to live and work.”

He said the plan for the site had been entirely overhauled since it was first granted permission in 2017, with this application, pending for three years, seeking to refine all the finer details.

The firm staged a competition for designs of the more modern buildings on site, which has resulted in some house types which appear to step up the quarry embankment in overlapping tiers with terraces.

Overall, the site would include 6.5km of hedges and car parking around a proposed commercial centre would be underground.

Every house would have an electric vehicle charging point, air source heat pumps and be heavily insulated, he said.

Mr Cavell said: “We have a relatively narrow window of opportunity to make this site happen just due to the practical difficulties we have with construction these days.”

Chris Whitmore, the council’s development manager, said the site had been earmarked for housing in the authority’s Local Plan – a blueprint for future development, and said the “high quality, architect-led scheme” met those aims.

He said there was an “interesting and bold design approach” with “overtly contemporary” houses and a manor house-style commercial centre complex.

Mr Whitmore said despite the “challenging incline”, the site was close to Sainsbury’s, the train station and bus depot.

He said it could be built without adversely impacting the srurrounding area or the Peak District National Park.

The meeting was told that earthworks on the site to allow for development were to cost in the region of £6 million when the site was approved in 2017. Since then the plan has been reworked to work around the different tiers in the site.

Cllr Nick Whitehead said: “How can we have a scheme this large and have no affordable housing. It is missing one key element which makes it very difficult to support.

“Surely we should be beyond exclusivity. We should be about inclusion and inclusion of all parts of our community, no matter their pay bandings.

“When we have got something as exciting and amazing as this, that we are excluding parts of our community in Matlock just seems perverse to me when the developer could have easily come up with a solution to provide even just a small percentage of affordable housing. “I find it really disappointing. I was so excited, it is such a brilliant project for Matlock. It is a missed opportunity.”

Cllr Stuart Lees said it was to be an “expensive” development to build but noted that having 69 two-bed houses on the site was “as close to affordable housing as we are going to get”.

Mr Whitmore said the roads on the site would not be fit to be taken on by Derbyshire County Council, with residents and the developer to pool cash to make road repairs and improvements, and install street lighting.

Cllr Peter Slack dubbed the scheme a “very upmarket, lavish development”.

He said: “It is just a stone quarry, it is different to Cawdor (across the road, where nearly 500 homes are to be built), there are no chemicals there. The suggestion that it is a difficult site is not right, it is a much easier site. It doesn’t hold water at all that this is a difficult site.”

Cllr David Burton said the scheme was “excellent and high quality” but felt an “element of uncomfortableness” about the lack of affordable housing, fearing “youngsters on £23,000-£24,000 a year” would not be able to afford homes there.

Mr Whitmore said the council had “missed the boat” on ensuring affordable housing would be present on the site and that the situation could not be revisited.

Cllr Burfoot said this was a “missed opportunity”.

She said: “That doesn’t mean we don’t regret deeply that there will not be any affordable housing on this site

“We want the development to go ahead. I think it is an exciting development, but would also like to think it is not just an exclusive development so those people (youngsters earning £23-34K) in this area who have got the sort of money to buy one [can do so].”

Cllr David Hughes called for Severn Trent to take urgent action to ensure that sewage from the development, as well as others in the area, did not end up in the local river network due to an over-capacity system.

Cllr Roger Shelley said that with the lowest priced home likely to cost £200,000, the 220-home development would net £40 million on sales – £44 million to be exact – though that would not factor in the cost of building and the rent or sale of shop and commercial spaces.