'This is countryside clearance': Rural Derbyshire community who feel 'railroaded' by plans for new village

Residents in the rural parish of Burnaston, a stone’s throw from the Derby suburb of Mickleover, are forming their fervent opposition to plans from Parker Strategic Land for a new village which would join the two settlements.

They have now kickstarted the campaign group Friends of Grassy Lane and Mallard Walk, Burnaston, tying together residents in the isolated farming properties and those around the former Pastures Hospital site.

Initial plans filed by PSL to South Derbyshire District Council would see up to 2,300 homes, a school, local centre and link road built on more than 270 acres of agricultural land, with the new major throughroute connecting the A38 at Findern Interchange to the A516 Etwall Road, along with a new connection off Staker Lane.

The district council is in the process of earmarking the land for up to 2,500 homes, employment units, a retirement village, primary school, Gypsy and Traveller pitches, health facilities and a local centre.

However, it has yet to formally adopt this and is currently aiming to do so by the back end of 2026.

The early plans from PSL, in the form of a scoping opinion gathering what evidence it will need for a formal application, comes 14 months after the district council released its plans for a new community “south of Mickleover”, as reported by the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Residents in the campaign group are clear in their acceptance that homes will be built and have accepted that the initial 2,500 figure would likely go ahead due to high housing targets set by central government.

However, they strongly oppose the link road which would send thousands of cars off the A38, close to their homes and through what is currently open countryside, and to Etwall Road, close to the 1,100-home New House Farm estate.

If approved in an eventual planning application, the new major road would currently cut through a tight gap between a Grassy Lane home surrounded by farmland and properties in Swan Hill and Sandpiper Lane.

They claim accurate, up-to-date and comprehensive information on the “new village”, as dubbed by the developers themselves, has been thin on the ground, with most hearing about the plan through either the LDRS last year or through neighbours in the past few months.

Residents claim the developers, knowing that many are willing to accept new housebuilding, are now “getting greedy” and “cheeky” and pushing to include more homes, take up more land and entirely omit a planned expansive country park.

Some of those living in the affected area have done so for decades, including tending to the land and rearing livestock such as rare breed Portland sheep.

One resident, who did not wish to be named, said: “We are not against new housing but we object to having they are being forced through.

“This is not a new extension but a new town dropped straight into the countryside.

“With current government policy this will happen, we know that, or it will go elsewhere, but to rip open the countryside for a link road, with potentially 6,000 extra cars on the road, that we do not support.”

They said beloved footpaths and rights of way would be lost or have their character changed forever, with planned sports facilities with floodlights close to their boundaries.

The resident continued: “This is a really dangerous precedent and it is just so South Derbyshire can pick up Derby’s housing. It is being imposed on us.

“This is not housebuilding, it is countryside clearance.”

A further resident said the Government’s targets are for homes, not the wider facilities which are being courted in the overall “south of Mickleover” plan, suggesting these could be accommodated elsewhere.

Residents are clear that many of the fields touted for housing regularly flood, having a “dreadful” impact, with one of the most waterlogged earmarked for community allotments, with flooding repeatedly stretching across the A516.

Fellow residents also detail repeated accidents on the Etwall Road and fear this situation will worsen with further traffic.

Residents fear the priority being given to the major link road raises the spectre of more housing being built than is currently being touted.

They say brownfield land and plots in town centres and the city centre ought to be prioritised first before greenfield areas.

Residents say farmers feel targeted by developers to sell their land in order to make ends’ meat and suggest there will be a shortage of land to grow food.

There is also major concern over the impact on rare and protected species including badgers, bats, hedgehogs, great crested newts and many birds.

A series of new estates will not have the hedges, bushes and trees which they will require, residents say.

They say improvements to Staker Lane ought to be prioritised as opposed to the planned new link road.

Last September, Mickleover residents in The Hollow and Haven Baulk Lane told the LDRS of their “shock” and “disgust” at the plans, fearing further traffic “chaos”, pressure on schools and NHS services, along with existing concerns over flooding and speeding.

A spokesperson for PSL said: “The submission of our EIA Scoping Request marks a significant milestone in shaping the vision for Mickleover South.”

“Over the past year, we have worked closely with SDDC officers, statutory consultees, and Burnaston Parish Council to ensure our emerging plans align with and support both the emerging Local Plan and neighbourhood plan.

“We want this new village to be a place that complements life in the parish, enabling people to walk to school and the shops in a way they cannot today and creating stronger connections between Burnaston Village and the existing Pastures Estate.”