Derby’s road network is failing, but developer wants to build 600 homes here

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.

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