Heanor

Planning & Design Practice have successfully gained planning permission for 100 houses at Heanor. The site is in a sustainable location on the edge of Heanor, but outside of the Green Belt. The outline application was granted planning permission on delegated powers, subject to a Section 106 Legal Agreement for developer contributions.

Working closely with Planning Officers at Amber Valley Borough Council, any issues that arose during the consideration process were dealt with swiftly and professionally. This included a Geophysical Survey of the site to assess the potential for hidden archaeological features.

We also commissioned a specialist report from Highways Consultants to show that the existing access route and junction with the main road was suitable for the amount of traffic expected for a development of this size.

An Indicative Masterplan was produced to support the application, following the principles of good urban design, which showed that the number of houses could be laid out satisfactorily on the available land, respect the existing residential properties around the site, and incorporate suitable areas of public open space, along with sustainable drainage systems (SuDS) to deal with rainwater runoff.

The legal agreement requires financial payments to fund the provision of additional primary and secondary education places in the nearest schools, and a payment to the NHS to increase capacity at nearby doctor’s surgeries, as well as a contribution towards the enhancement of playing and sports pitches in Heanor. All of the payments agreed to are directly proportional to the number of houses on the development.

Getting a planning permission for a development of 100 homes under delegated approval is a substantial achievement and one that the company is very proud of. When we submitted the application we expected considerable opposition and there were in fact almost 70 objections, largely in relation to lack of infrastructure – school places, doctor’s surgeries etc., as well as traffic levels – however these issues were addressed by the financial contributions required by the Section 106 Legal Agreement, and a Travel Plan to encourage the use of sustainable methods of transport.

Planning & Design Practice is looking forward to the opportunity to work with any potential developer of the site on a Reserved Matters application, to resolve the finer details of the scheme and see construction start.

The approved scheme will help to address Amber Valley Borough Council’s shortfall in their 5 year supply of suitable housing land. However, the Council are still looking for more housing sites, so if you are a landowner and have land that you think may be suitable, please do not hesitate to get in touch.

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