Derby’s road infrastructure is ‘failing’ under the pressure of existing traffic and plans for more housing, a government inspector has been told. Plans for 600 homes will be earmarked by Erewash Borough Council for land between Morley Road and Acorn Way in Oakwood as part of future planning up to 2037.
The council’s core strategy hearings this week, heard by Government Inspector Kelly Ford, were told the Derby site, on Erewash land, was considered sustainable due to its links to the city. However, this was questioned by a Derby City Council transport officer and a councillor, with both claiming that the additional burden of yet more homes would prove to be a problem.
Oliver Dove, the council’s planning policy and regeneration manager, told a hearing this week that the authority had not received any information that would make it doubt the sustainability of the area, saying it would create a “defensive Green Belt boundary”. He said there was no risk of the town amalgamating with surrounding villages, but it would expand the “Derby and Oakwood conurbation”.
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Mr Dove said the site was targeted as urban plots in the borough were depleted, along with extensions on the Nottingham side of Erewash. Andrew Gibbard, a planning officer for Derby City Council, said: “This is quite a difficult site in terms of its relationship with the rest of the urban area.”
Cllr Matthew Eyre, councilor for Oakwood ward, said: “Acorn Way has been closed four or five times in recent months because it has been flooded.” He questioned the claim that the site was already on viable bus routes, saying buses would not take residents to key places such as supermarkets but only into the city centre.
Cllr Eyre said: “It is 0.1 miles from a junction being investigated by the council and we have asked for a safe haven around Lees Brook school due to the parking issues. This is a route of 100 km/h, without lights and without cycle path. It was never designed to have any infrastructure on it, it is a connecting road between two neighborhoods.”
Mr Dove said the Acorn Way and Raynesway junction, currently a four-arm roundabout, could become a traffic light junction under the scheme. He claimed that after four years of discussions, the council had not requested any mitigation of the plan nor provided a detailed description of the mitigation that would be required.
Mr Gibbard said: “We know there is a problem here but we don’t think it is our responsibility to find a solution to it. We have previously encountered difficulties at this location and difficulties in finding a solution for it. It is a junction on one of our main radial roads and main road network with significant traffic congestion already and now 600 homes that will travel to the city center and the same road network.
“It will significantly increase the problems that already exist there and these are the same restrictions at all junctions in the Derby area.” Cllr Eyre said: “On Acorn Way you have a drug rehabilitation clinic, a school and the Derby County training ground. If you work at Rolls-Royce, you use Acorn Way. To get to the nearest large store, Asda, use Acorn Way. To get to Smart Parc, use Acorn Way.
“It serves so many purposes as a connecting road.” Bob Woollard, on behalf of Redrow Homes, which plans to build on the site, said it has been “working hard” to develop the site since 2018 and is currently preparing a planning application.
He said the pre-application advice from the county and municipal councils had not led to any discussion about the required intersection reduction as a direct result of this particular development. Mr Woollard said: “Any significant impacts in terms of congestion and road safety can be mitigated. From a highways perspective, there are no showstoppers that could impact the site’s deliverability.”
He said buses cannot be expected to take people door-to-door to all the services they need, and that a service that collects every 20 minutes is not necessary. Mr Gibbard said: “It is very difficult to argue that the problem (highways) is that serious. It is the residents who will feel the impact of the development and if there is no frequent bus service, people will want to use their cars.
“It’s a one kilometer drive to the nearest store and who walks that far for convenience? Just because it’s on the city boundary doesn’t mean it’s sustainable.” Mr Woollard said: “It is illogical to me to suggest that locating housing on the outskirts of a city like Derby is not sustainable. It is connected to services and it goes without saying that it is a sustainable growth location.”
Steve Birkinshaw, the council’s head of planning, said: “It is accepted that a major problem is that Derby’s transport infrastructure is failing, but it is not the job of this application to solve that, only to mitigate its own impact .” Cllr Eyre said: “The transport network is failing, as we know. It seems that the problems here will increase if an expansion comes to the city.”
Mr Birkinshaw said the council had indicated that 10 per cent of homes on the site would be affordable housing and a further 20 per cent would be provided as financial payment for homes elsewhere in the borough. He said this was because there was no demand for affordable housing in the area and it was at the other end of the borough so could be issued from the development near Derby.
Mr Birkinshaw said: “There is a mismatch between potential demand and potential supply and we believe it would be better to provide housing where it is needed, rather than decanting residents from Long Eaton and Ilkeston and disposing of them to demand that they live on the ground. outskirts of Derby, which we don’t think is an acceptable situation. Mr Woollard said Redrow plans to submit a planning application for 600 homes within the next month or two and could move to the site within weeks of planning permission, hopefully by this time next year.
He said the first homes could be completed by June 2026, with 50 in the first year, followed by 100 per year for the next five years, with two housebuilders building and selling homes on the site at the same time.
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