A52 housing plans for Risley/Sandiacre

The proposed site of 150 homes in Bostocks Lane, Risley. Image from Google.

Scores of homes could soon be built alongside the M1 and A52 on the outskirts of a Derbyshire town, in the protected Green Belt.

The plans, from Wheeldon Brothers, NM & DA Thorpe and NA Cotton, would involve 150 houses being built off Bostocks Lane, in Risley, next to the M1 and A52 junction for Sandiacre.

If approved by Erewash Borough Council, the scheme would include 68 affordable homes – totalling 45 percent of housing on the planned estate.

A decision will be made by the council in the next few months.

The plot sits in protected Green Belt land and the applicants say the site was previously discounted by the borough council for inclusion in its future housing plans in 2022 due to its protected status.

In its paperwork, the developers suggest Green Belt policies ought to be reconsidered, stating that the land does not make an effective contribution to the main goals of the protected status – stopping settlements from merging.

The developers say the inclusion of dozens of affordable housing would be a major reason to allow the construction of homes in the Green Belt, and suggest the plot could viably be labelled ‘grey belt’.

They say it is ‘clear’ that the plot could be classified as grey belt due to its lack of contribution to stopping settlements expanding or preservation of historic towns, due to existing restrictions such as the A52 itself.

The developers also refer to the year-on-year failures of the council to hit its annual housing targets as an “entrenched problem that must be addressed as a matter of urgency”.

In January this year the council scrapped its 7,000-home masterplan – its Core Strategy – after years of work, on the strong advice of a Government inspector, leaving the authority without an up-to-date plan on how it will achieve targets to build 523 homes per year.

They developers say: “The issue will continue to worsen by virtue of the fact that the council are without an up-to-date Local Plan with no means of addressing the shortfall, except by approving applications under the presumption in favour of sustainable development.

“Given the large presence of Green Belt in the borough, the provisions of grey belt provide a key policy mechanism that gives the council the opportunity to address this issue.”

Existing traffic issues have been a concern in Bostocks Lane, with it widely used for the M1 and A52.

But the developers wrote: “The cumulative impact of the proposed residential development on the surrounding highway network would not be severe taking into account all reasonable future scenarios.

“The proposed development would be in a sustainable location in close proximity to a range of local services and facilities, as well as benefiting from the well-established relationship that Risley shares with the city of Nottingham and Derby.”