Village housing scheme approved despite objections

The site, made of two side-by-side fields, borders the edge of the main village

Plans for 180 homes on the edge of a village in Derbyshire have been given the go-ahead despite concerns about pressure on school places, medical services and roads.

North East Derbyshire District Council has approved Rippon Homes Ltd's planning application on seven hectares (17 acres) of greenfield land near Spindle Drive and Deerlands Road at Wingerworth.

A council officer told the authority's planning meeting on Tuesday the village had enough local services to make it a "sustainable site".

But the council also heard 155 objections had been received with concerns that infrastructure including schools, medical services and highways could not meet the demands of the scheme.

A local councillor said he believed housing development in the area was outpacing infrastructure

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, the site was previously granted outline planning permission in 2018 but the development was not implemented.

A council officer told the meeting of the council's planning committee: "Wingerworth still has the facilities, shops, a health centre and buses and services and these are the things that make it sustainable and these things have not changed and those are the items that make it a sustainable site."

The new scheme features 12 homes with one-bedroom, 38 with two-bedrooms, 89 three-bedroom homes, and 41 four-bedroom properties, with 40% of the total to be designated as affordable housing.

But district and Wingerworth parish councillor, Neil Baker, said: "We believe it's totally unsustainable to keep expecting more and more pupils to be accommodated at existing schools and until The Avenue school is developed, please, stop building new houses."

Wingerworth Parish Council also objected on the grounds the site was not included in the district council's Local Plan and feared an adverse impact on the area's infrastructure and highways.

Derbyshire County Council has requested education contributions from the developer including £134,754.65 for Special Educational Needs and Disabilities and £830,722.40 to expand nearby Hunloke Primary School or alternatively to go towards a proposed new primary school at The Avenue.