Objection to development in Ashbourne

CPRE Derbyshire objects to the outline application for the erection of up to 25 new dwelling houses on land east of 91 Belper Road, Ashbourne.

Our primary objection is that the site is in a rural location outside the approved Local Plan settlement boundary and would represent an unwarranted intrusion into open countryside, in contravention of Local Plan policy.

Additionally, development on the site would have an adverse impact on the surrounding landscape and be detrimental to the essentially rural setting, adjacent to a listed farmhouse. It would have the effect of introducing a suburban style development into unspoiled countryside on the outskirts of Ashbourne.

Our understanding is that a similar, if slightly larger development proposal was recently refused on grounds of landscape impact and we see no material difference between that application and this present one. The slightly smaller scale and changes to landscaping do not materially reduce the impact of this inappropriate style of development into a rural setting.