Spondon: more than 250 homes for green belt on edge of Derby where deer roam free

Erewash Borough Council is set to ask the Secretary of State for housing, Angela Raynor (also deputy Prime Minister), for permission to approve plans for 259 houses on agricultural land between Spondon and Spondon Wood.

At a meeting on Wednesday, December 11, councillors are set to grant approval to plans from Bloor Homes for 259 houses on the field between Derby and Spondon Wood – in Erewash – which is home to a herd of wild deer.

The site is currently set to be earmarked for 250 houses by the borough council in its submitted Core Strategy – blueprint for future housing up until 2037 – with Government inspector Kelly Ford still in the process of reviewing the overall document and proposed sites, having held public hearings in June.

In late September, Ms Ford told the council that after looking at its proposed plans, it needed to find space for an additional 820 homes, on top of the 6,128 it has already earmarked, to a total under new housing targets of 6,948 homes.

The borough council responded by launching a “call for sites” for developers to propose sites which could be delivered in time and fill the authority’s forecast shortfall.

In a report for next week’s meeting, borough council officers say the 259 homes in Spondon are now needed to plug this 820-home gap, regardless of their previous controversial inclusion in the submitted Core Strategy.

They write: “The urgent need for housing delivery in Erewash and emerging development plan proposals for this site to help meet that need are considered to provide very special circumstances that outweigh the presumption against development on this site and, having regard to its limited contribution to any of the five purposes of the Green Belt, to outweigh any other harm to the Green Belt from developing this site.

“The site is otherwise suitable for development, being sustainably located as an extension to Spondon and having no demonstrable heritage, flood risk or pollution constraints.”

Officers write that the borough council has “consistently failed to deliver its objectively assessed housing need” and “failed to meet the housing delivery test in every year since its introduction”.

They continue: “In recognition of the parlous position the council finds itself in with regard to housing supply, the Core Strategy Review was approved by council and submitted to the Secretary of State for examination in November 2022.

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“That document stated that it would be impossible for the borough to meet its housing needs without developing in the Green Belt and concluded that this provided the exceptional circumstances to justify deletion of parts of the Green Belt. One of those locations considered suitable for removal from the Green Belt was this application site.

“Alongside the material considerations of the undoubted need for housing development in the Borough, which attract significant weight, the moderate weight of emerging Core Strategy Review is considered, on balance, to favour approval of the principle of this housing application in the Green Belt.”

The borough council says that 551 individual responses to the plans from 304 properties, with the majority from people living in Spondon and detailing their objections to the scheme, but with some opposition ranging from as far away as Scotland.

Derby City Council, Derbyshire County Council, former Mid Derbyshire MP Pauline Latham, Dale Abbey Parish Council, Ockbrook and Borrowash Parish Council, city councillors Jonathan Smale and Nicola Roulstone all lodged their opposition to the scheme.

In June, Oliver Dove, the borough council’s planning policy and regeneration manager, had told one of the June inspector-led hearings: “We recognise there is some encroachment into the open countryside but this would lead to the formation of a strong Green Belt boundary from Spondon Wood, preventing further encroachment.

“We have exhausted the opportunities for urban expansion within our own boundaries and all opportunities for brownfield development have been exhausted. With the exception of some encroachment into the countryside this assists in safeguarding the countryside from further encroachment. Extending the conurbation is one of the most sustainable options available to us. We couldn’t meet our housing need using our urban capacity.”

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James Beverley, on behalf of Bloor Homes, had said the firm was waiting for the outcome of the hearings before proceeding with its scheme and could have the first homes built within 12 months of approval.

He had said: “This site is remarkably well constrained. The only view of the site is from private land, including Bluebell Dairy. If this had fallen into Derby city’s boundary it probably would have been built. It is an unnatural boundary. I understand the risk of this development being the first domino. My view is that expanding to the east is inappropriate due to the vicinity to Ockbrook.”

Cllr John Wright, a Chaddesden East ward councillor on Derby City Council, had said: “It is incontestable that this extends urban sprawl and does not meet the very high threshold for Green Belt development.

“Spondon is highly congested at most times of the day so the argument that this is a sustainable development is not met. It is going to put more pressure on Spondon and this is very much an extension to Derby city. It will be Spondon residents feeling these disbenefits, not the residents of Erewash.”

In total, there would be 21 two-bed houses, 133 three-bed houses and 105 four-bed houses.

Of the 259 proposed homes, 10 per cent would be affordable housing (26 properties).

The June hearings were told 10 per cent was being asked for because the Erewash affordable housing need is said to be on the other side of the borough and the authority does not want to “export” properties where there was not a demand.

A total of £5.3 million will be provided to build affordable homes elsewhere in Erewash, in areas of “greatest need” “including Ilkeston and Long Eaton”.

Meanwhile, £1.6 million would be given for education improvements, £47,000 for bus stop upgrades, £1 million for improvements to the Willowcroft Road and Nottingham Road junction and £188,000 to improve the Spondon A52 roundabout.