Development Plan Select

Tuesday evening saw a meeting of the Development Plan Select, amongst the items on the agenda, were reports on Station Road in Buxton, Housing Restraint, Buxton Housing and the initial view of the council on part of Derbyshire County Council’s Waste Management Plan.

The report on the waste management plan was around the issue, that some of you will have seen in the local papers over the last few weeks, of what sites should be set aside for possible use as ‘waste facilities’.

The ‘waste facilities’ have not been defined at current, but they could be anything from a transfer / recycling site up to an incinerator, but not as a result of decisions taken so far any sort of land fill or traditional tip.

Out of the 30 or so site suggested across the High Peak area by the County, officers (backed up by the meeting last night) have taken the view that only 3 of them are really suitable for further consideration, With the remaining sites been unsuitable due to various reasons including close proximity to residential areas, and general traffic problems.

The 3 sites approved for submission as acceptable are the Waterswallow’s site in Buxton, that will soon be home to ‘Borough’ recycling plant, the Harpur Hill Industrial Estate, and if those prove insufficient and the 2nd Whaley Bridge get built a 3rd site in the form the Bingswood Industrial Estate in Whaley Bridge.

Not too much to concern local residents in Gamesley or Glossop about, however I did raise the point that further work needs to be done on the list of sites within each area of the Borough, in light of the likelihood that the County may take the view that these facilities are needed locally in each community, but also to build up the case that the suggested sites are not acceptable.

The housing restraint report, was looking at an additional document to strengthen the reasons behind the existing restraint policy, that prevents new housing sites from been approved in the Glossopdale and Central areas of the borough without a high proportion of the site been for affordable housing.

The housing in Buxton report was around the concern’s that the local plan inspector has over the Buxton area been able to reach it’s house building target in light of the problems around the village / town green applications, and the general slow level of building that existing approved site have.

The issue’s raised in the report will cause some concern to Buxton residents, as due to quirks in the system any new ‘student’ accommodation build doesn’t count towards the housing targets, which may mean that the council need to consider as part of the process allowing house building on additional ‘green field’ sites.

The final item on the agenda, was dealt with first, and included a presentation from consultant brought in by the Council, to look at how to improve the area around ‘Station Road’ in Buxton, which is viewed as having become ‘void of character’ and ‘any sense of place’, when compared to the actual station itself, which is a grade 2 listed building.

The report takes the view that in light of the ‘ongoing regeneration’ of Buxton it may be time to look at how through controlled development it may be able to improve this particular area and how the entrance to Buxton looks in the future, an interesting report which will be seen by the Development Plan Select Committee as it develops.