456/458 Duffield Road - Is no news good news?

 

Many people will be aware that despite a vigorous campaign by APG and an outcry of objections by residents, Roxdan Developments obtained consent to demolish these two houses and build 2 blocks forming 9 apartments and a terrace of 5 town houses.

 

Several nearby property owners, who are also APG committee members, wrote to Roxdan threatening legal action to gain enforcement of restrictive covenants contained within their title deeds if they went ahead with the development. Whilst there was no response to the implied action from Roxdan, it is encouraging to see that 456 Duffield Road has been placed on the market with a local estate agent by the owner.

 

APG Committee Members Meet Councillors

 

Five of our committee members met with Hilary Jones, the new Leader of the City Council and her deputy Lucy Care. The committee felt that it was important to open dialogue with the new leader, to express the grave concerns held by many Allestree residents, over inappropriate and high density developments which are blighting their neighbourhood.

 

The group received a very sympathetic hearing from the new leader, who had fought against a large development near her home in Littleover and made a rather disquieting comment that despite her position then as a City councillor, her group had been unsuccessful in preventing the fairly intensive development.

 

There is no doubt that local councils are being driven by central government policies to create more housing on existing brownfield sites, and back gardens receive little or no protection following re-designation of gardens to brown field status by John Prescott in 2002.

 

APG Apply for Extension of Conservation Area

 

The APG committee feel that extending the conservation area of Allestree would help preserve the mature areas which the City Council have failed to protect in not producing a mature suburbs design policy. Unlike many of our neighbouring councils like Nottingham, Leicester and Birmingham, which are several years in front of our own, Derby City Council will not have completed such a policy until March 2009.

 

Our members were recommended to apply for such an extension through the Neighbourhood Board which replaced Area Panels last year. They are intended as a conduit for local people having a voice in the running of local government decision making in their area. APG Chairman, Rod Straw, is on the Allestree Board and at a meeting on the 9^th July proposed that an extension should be applied for which received unanimous agreement. This process may not result in a positive outcome and even if successful will not be in time to protect a potential development such as Kings Croft which is to be placed before the Local Planning Control Committee on the 31^st July.

 

APG Committee Members Meet Planners

 

After a year of repeated requests by the APG, Roy Webb on our behalf finally managed to arrange a meeting with the senior planning officers to express concerns over the viability of the proposed development on Kings Croft by the Sandstone Group. The meeting took place on 7^th July and a number of prepared questions were placed before John Stewart, Principal Planning Officer, and Paul Clarke, Head of Development Control & Land Searches. Time constraints did not allow for all questions to be answered, we therefore requested retrospective answers from Mr Clarke which we have to date not received and have today written to request them

 

We will post the questions and the officer's responses on this website as soon as we have them and hopefully in the near future.

 

Kings Croft Could Become a Black Hole

 

The 3^rd application by the Sandstone group for Kings Croft continues to press for the monolithic, overbearing, 60 bed care home. In an attempt to mitigate the visual impact on the surrounding area there are proposals made by the applicant to sink the foundations of the building up to 5 metres! Peter Steer who serves as a consultant structural engineer and hydrologist to the APG has calculated that if the 7.5 tonne weight restriction currently in force is applied, it will require 2,500 truck movements to remove the waste. If the weight restriction is lifted it will still require 750 heavy earth moving trucks to complete this task; but what damage will they inflict on the drains and road surfaces?

 

Flood Risks Concerns for Kings Croft

 

Peter Steer, in his objection letter to the Council, has continued his assertion that the application contains a woefully inadequate flood risk prevention scheme. If Peter is correct, and bear in mind he is one of the Country's most experienced structural engineers and is also a qualified hydrologist, then if this development goes ahead the people living at the lower parts of Devonshire Avenue, Kings Croft and Duffield Road, adjacent to the site are likely to have water logged gardens during heavy rain at the very least.

 

We have written to Paul Clarke requesting Peter Steer and the City Council's suitably qualified engineer meet to answer Peter's allegations. We still await a reply.

 

Is this an appropriate back garden development? Make sure your voice is heard and attend the planning meeting on the 31^st July at the Council House commencing 6.00pm.

< Prev		Next >