Proposed plans for 250 new houses 

East or Aldreds Lane, Heanor, Derbyshire 

This greenfield site has been enjoyed as an open public space for approximately 22 years by the local people and is very much a part of our community. It is a wonderful natural habitat with hundreds of trees which are homes for various species of birds, butterflies, bees, buzzards and red kites. We have roosting bats, foxes and various other species that will lose their natural habitat if you build on this land. How can these losses be justified or adequately mitigated? It is enjoyed by lots of dog walkers, joggers and people just generally enjoying the open space. It was especially coveted as a haven for people during lockdown who could go on their daily walk in safety and enjoy everything that this field has to offer.  

If this land is built on, how are the construction lorries and everything else associated with building houses going to get onto it? The cul de sacs in Kirkstone Avenue and Leonard Cheshire Close are just too narrow for one lorry to pass through never mind hundreds over the course of the build. The bin men struggle to empty the bins on Kirkstone Avenue due to the amount of parked cars with some houses having 4 cars per household and only the Avenue to park on. Some Kirkstone Avenue residents have had their cars pranged by neighbours trying to get out of their drives due to the Avenue being too narrow and with too many parked cars.

Brookfield Way is also a danger when people park adjacent to the central bollards which is a regular occurrence. Its a struggle for an ordinary sized car to get through and many have to go round the bollards on the other side of the road which is very dangerous so how would several lorries cope with that on a daily basis? People park on the road on Hartside Way which is a small road leading into Kirkstone Avenue, which makes exiting onto Brookfield Way difficult and entering from Brookfield Way to Hartside Way just as hazardous!

This land is flooded for around 9 months of the year. Surface water from Brookfield Way, Leonard Cheshire Close, Rosewood Crescent and Kirkstone Avenue flows onto this land making it like a quagmire in many places for months at a time. Many silver birch trees were chopped down earlier this year on the land behind Rosewood Crescent and ditches dug along the fence line to cope with the flooding so how will this be remedied if new houses are built? Garden fences along the back fence lines on Brookfield Way and Kirkstone Avenue are sinking into the field as the land is so waterlogged. The gardens on Rosewood Crescent and Kirkstone Avenue flood every year due to the fields not being able to cope with the amount of water on the land. The Environment Agency stated that as the site is situated in flood zone 2 and 3 generated from Bailey Brook , no development should be situated within 8m of the Bailey Brook which leaves an even smaller space to build an extortionate number of houses on!

Another very large problem with building so many houses on just this piece of land is the local road infrastructure. If we have approximately another 500 cars going onto Brookfield Way, Aldreds Lane, Hands Road and Milnhay Road how will these narrow roads cope. All cars trying to get onto Station Road now are gridlocked at peak times and Station Road traffic is very busy all day long. There are several planning applications awaiting determination for approximately 360 more new homes within a one mile radius of Langley Mill and Heanor which could potentially amount to another 700 cars in the area, and, if you include the above 250 houses, that’s potential for an extra 1200 cars on our local roads. This is just unacceptable in so small an area and our road infrastructure just cannot cope with this amount of traffic. 

With an extra 1200 cars comes 1200 adults and approximately 1200 children. Where are these children going to school? Will there be new schools built to cope with the influx of new children? Where are they going to register for Doctors and Dentist as the people who already live in the area really struggle with these already reduced facilities. Also where are the leisure facilities for all these extra people, where are the children going to play if there are no green spaces left.

Lastly this land has been tested in the past and been found to be contaminated. There are also voids due to shallow mining as intrusive surveys have previously shown. Mine gasses are suspected with various other contaminants which make it unsuitable for development. As the site is former open cast I suspect that remediation will be required and extra foundation treatment will also be required. Will this extra foundation treatment affect our houses? Will they be damaged in any way due to extra deep foundations being dug? Who will be responsible should any damage to our houses occur? 

Please do not take our green space away. We needs these type of public spaces for our mental health and general well being. The residents and people who use this field on a daily basis will be devastated to lose it.