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Sandbed Lane site part of irreplaceable medieval landscape

2nd December 2020

There’s a more recent update on this development.

We’re against a proposal for a large scale development of 180 houses at Sandbed Lane in Belper because the site forms part of the relic pastoral medieval landscape of the World Heritage Buffer Zone.

The two main grounds for our opposition are:

  • These fields a valuable local resource for walking and recreation, being very accessible to the urban area of Belper and;
  • The site functions as an important landscape backdrop to the existing town. This development would result in the loss of distinctive and historic views from surrounding footpaths and encroachment into the open countryside leading to increased urbanisation of the countryside. 

New Volunteer Planning Assistant, Lily has been learning the ropes with our more experienced Planning team on formulating CPRE Derbyshire’s objection, which was submitted to Amber Valley Planning Authority today. A decision is due soon on the proposal.

'Working on the Sandbed Lane objection was fascinating. Looking at the landscape notes and planning application, it is clear this development will have a bigger impact on the local area around Belper than initially indicated. Working on this has given me insight into the practicalities of the planning system and some of the loopholes - a lot of people seem to forget about a development's potential impact on the countryside! '
Lily - Derbyshire planning volunteer

You can see more detail of our objection at Amber Valley’s website by searching for application number AVA/2020/0223.

Here you will find numerous other objection comments from a wide range of consultees including Historic England and the Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site who say such a development will weaken the ability to understand the site’s Outstanding Universal Value as part of our industrial and pastoral heritage.

We are hopeful, given the weight of opposition, that this proposal will be rejected.

 

The proposed site would sprawl across most of the distant valley side, creating an impression of unlimited urban spread

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