Planning inspector throws out bid for 200 homes in Derbyshire countryside

Andrew McCormack, the Government-appointed planning inspector, has dismissed an appeal from Wulff Asset Management for 196 homes on land off Sowbrook Lane and Ilkeston Road, between Ilkeston, Kirk Hallam and Stanton.

This follows a five-day public inquiry last August, featuring opposition from the Kirk Hallam Green Squeeze campaign group and former long-serving borough councillor John Frudd.

The appeal followed a refusal from Erewash Borough Council’s planning committee in October 2022.

In his decision report, Mr McCormack details that the plot would be too divorced from any other settlement and also too disconnected for proposed residents to walk, cycle or get public transport to services, school and work. This includes the “unattractive” routes which people would have to use to access Kirk Hallam or Ilkeston by foot or bike.

Mr McCormack writes: “The proposal would not extend an existing settlement into adjoining countryside to meet housing needs.

“It would, instead, place a significant amount of housing in the countryside, several fields removed from the nearest existing settlement. It would be perceived negatively as a housing scheme that would appear as an isolated development in a countryside setting and unsustainable location.

“I find it likely that very few people would be persuaded to walk or cycle to services and facilities in Ilkeston from the proposal given the journey length and the inherently unattractive nature of the route. This would include crossing the busy Ilkeston Road.

“The section of Sowbrook Lane between the site and the edge of Kirk Hallam, to my mind, would not be an attractive, safe or overlooked environment for pedestrians to use.

“Although the route along this section of Sowbrook Lane is relatively short, it involves having to negotiate passage along a narrow single-carriageway highway and adjacent footpath that has winding bends with shortened forward visibility for significant parts of the route.

“The route is also well-trafficked, often with medium to large sized commercial vehicles as well as cars which I have seen to be often travelling substantially in excess of the speed limit during my visits.”

Mr McCormack also found the planned housing at odds with the under-construction redevelopment of the former Stanton Ironworks with mass warehousing space, along with other widespread industrial activity in the area.

A key part of the hearing was dedicated to the fact that the borough council, in its draft core strategy (blueprint for future development) aims to allocate the proposed site as land to be redesignated as protected Green Belt to preserve the space between Kirk Hallam and the wider Ilkeston area.

The inspector said that while the plan has not yet been approved, and is currently being assessed by a different inspector, it was at an advanced stage and could be undermined by the new homes being approved.

Cllr James Dawson, borough council leader, said: “This is a victory for common sense. Despite the need for new homes in the borough this site was never a sensible location for such housing.

“The council is pleased that an independent planning inspector has endorsed the authority’s decision to refuse the original planning application.”