Matlock Planning Consultation Meeting

The re-scheduled consultation meeting for the recent planning proposals in the Matlock area to build 270 new houses on green filed sites went ahead as planned yesterday evening at 7.00pm.

This time the venue was big enough (just) and the local residents turned out in force with approximately 400 people present.

Surprisingly the meeting was quite orderly and dealt with in a professional manner by the local council with both Mike Hase (Planning Policy Manager ) & Paul Wilson (Director of Planning and Housing Services) fielding questions.

The overall atmosphere indicated that the residents of Matlock were united against developing on these green field sites, in particular areas of natural beauty and open spaces currently used by residents for recreation.

Other interesting points raised included:

a)      Scepticism about the projected figures regarding the quantity of housing needed. Apparently the figures were based on old data from 2004 and as we know major economic changes have happened recently affecting not only employment but also banks and mortgages etc. <Population Figures (page 83)>

b)      Concerns about the statistics on population growth in the Matlock area, in particular the fact that the Matlock population is actually in decline and that any new houses would mainly serve Migration which meant mainly retired people moving to the area not young families.

c)       Concerns on local employment, which is already under pressure, and the fact that creating new houses doesn’t create long term employment.

d)      Major concerns about the road networks and impacts on traffic with approximately 2000 extra car journeys per day. In particular access issues on the Mat 1 & Mat 2 sites.

e)      Points were raised about developing on Brown Field Sites in preference to Green Field Sties, in particular the Hall Dale Quarry area which is large enough to take the entire capacity. <all proposed sites in addition to the ones on the documents>

f)       Points were raised about the High Fields school campus being on one site and that part of the proposed plan is on land earmarked for that. Also that if the school were on one site the Starkholmes site would become available for residential development.

g)      It was also raised that there was a large area of land owned by the golf club that was available for development.

h)      Major concerns were raised about the Mat 1 location being a local recreational area and an area of natural beauty with an abundance of wildlife including protected Badger Sets.

On the whole all questions from the floor were answered in a professional objective manor by the speakers and the meeting could be concluded as a success.

One interesting point raised by Mr. Wilson (Director of Planning and Housing Services) was that the meeting carried no weight regarding the decisions of the council, no attendance figures or minutes of the meeting were recorded and that the only way to make a difference was to write in, in person to the council with your views before 30^th of August.

So we urge everyone to write in to the council with your views.

In particular your views on:

a)      Questioning quantity of hosing proposed in Matlock, is it really necessary?

b)      Impact on the road networks

c)      Impacts on the character of Matlock

d)      Impacts on wildlife and natural beauty spots

e)      Decimation of Matlock’s open spaces and recreational areas

f)       Preference of Brownfield Site development (eg. Hall Dale Quarry)

g)      Concerns about migration (retired people coming to the area) being the major need for these developments.

Please send written responses (before 30^th August) to: 

Derbyshire Dales District Council
Housing Options Consultation
Town Hall
Bank Road
Matlock
Derbyshire
DE4 3NN