Important win for Shirland

Derbyshire CPRE helps block a damaging green field development.

In July 2020, North East Derbyshire’s Planning Committee refused an application for 90 homes on an attractive and important green field site at Shirland. The site is on the southern boundary of the village, adjacent to the Hallfieldgate Lane Conservation area, with far-reaching heritage views south towards the Amber Valley.
The original application was for 120 houses, but numerous objections, including from CPRE Derbyshire, saw that number reduced to 90. We were still against this on grounds of impact on the landscape, over-development of the village and the site not being in the draft Local Plan.
We managed to submit a late representation to the Planning Committee to point out errors in their officer report. Our principal point was that the development was unnecessary, given that North East Derbyshire had already allocated enough sites to provide for identified housing need. And this one would not add any benefits in terms of provision of affordable housing. Fortunately, the committee agreed that the damage to Shirland’s character outweighed any supposed benefits of the development.
This underlines the fact that our countryside is more vulnerable to damaging development where Local Plans are out of date and new plans a long way from approval.