Plans for 38 affordable homes on High Peak green belt land refused

Members of High Peak Borough Council’s Development Control Committee voted against an outline application to build the homes on green belt land in Bridgemont at a meeting on Monday.

The application, which was recommended for refusal by officers, had received almost 40 complaints from residents with the majority saying the land should not be built on. And councillors agreed with them.

Speaking after the meeting, Councillor Charlotte Farrell said: “We need affordable housing but not on green belt land. We once refused permission to allow someone to build a shed on green belt land so 38 houses is totally unsuitable.

“If we had approved the plans it would have changed Bridgemont forever and turned it from a small hamlet into something much bigger and that precious green space would have been lost forever.”

Permission for development on green belt land is often only granted in exceptional circumstances and although a representative for the applicants, Great Places and Treville Properties Ltd, was at the meeting saying affordable houses make the development exceptional, it was not enough to sway the councillors.

Councillor David Lomax said after the meeting: “We recently approved affordable housing in Bridgemont, and there are also affordable sites in Furness Vale and Whaley Bridge so we don’t need them on our green belt land.”

Network Rail said there would be no adverse impacts to the operation of the railway line, which adjoins part of the site in relation to drainage and noise matters. And the applicant said they would mitigate flooding by proposing a balancing pond adjoining the railway boundary.

However, there was not enough information on this to allow the committee to judge whether the proposal is in accordance with the Adopted High Peak Local Plan.

Councillor Graham Oakley said the outline plans did not provide enough information for members of the committee to make an informed decision.

Speaking after the meeting, he said: “The right decision has been made.

"If the plans were approved it would have been harmful to the village which would have lost its identity."

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