Erewash mill flats plan set for rejection

Bridge Mill in Derby Road, Long Eaton. Image from Google.

The planned conversion of an historic Derbyshire mill is set for rejection due to the negative impact on a neighbouring business and flats being deemed too small.

Bridge Mills, which faces the Erewash Canal off Derby Road and Bridge Street in Long Eaton, is the subject of plans to convert the former facility into 80 flats.

Erewash Borough Council is due to decide on the plans at a meeting on Wednesday, August 12th, with planning officials recommending refusal.

They write that a litany of issues face the proposed plans, chief among them being that only 10 out of the 80 flats meet national standards for space requirements, while none in the roof space meet “any standard”, with parts having a ceiling height of less than 1.5 metres.

Council planners also say the reuse of the early 20th century lace mill for flats would directly impact the continued use of the opposite mill complex, which currently shares the site, access, parking space and central courtyard.

They write that the current shared courtyard would become exclusively used for the 80-flat mill, concluding “this would harm the commercial viability of that (opposite) factory”.

Meanwhile, the operational factory creates significant noise, largely linked to extractor fans which operate until 3am on weekdays, at volumes exceeding acceptable residential levels, the Environment Agency found.

Flats facing the opposite factory would be made to have non-opening windows, which officials describe as “not acceptable”.

Officers write that flats in the roof space would rely solely on roof lights for lighting and windows, with no other “outlook”.

Alongside this, officers say the lower floors looking out onto a view “dominated by parked cars” is also “not considered acceptable”.

Due to the cost of the conversion of a brownfield derelict mill, the developer – with agreement with council officers – says they cannot afford to provide any flats badged as “affordable housing” or any funding for improvements to offset the impact of the scheme.

This includes highways safety recommendations from Derbyshire County Council, including improvements to Derby Road such as bus stops, a ghost island and improved junction and road markings for the site.

Officers say the wider road safety issues would arise from the developer claiming the current shared courtyard, “leaving no parking or even loading bays for the retained factory” and meaning any large HGVs would have to reverse in off Derby Road, saying “such manoeuvres are intrinsically unsafe”.

They write: “Continued operation of that unit would therefore be commercially compromised, and would severely inconvenience the new flat residents who would be blocked in during loading and unloading operations. 

“The proposals as made appear to raise an unacceptable risk to highway safety, an unacceptable risk to pedestrian safety within the site, harm the viability of the adjacent factory unit, and result in a poor standard of amenity for the flat occupants.”

Council officers say insufficient bin space has been provided for the would-be 80 properties, without considering the bin space also required for the adjacent factory, saying this would lead to the risk of crime, such as fly tipping.

Officers, recommending refusal, wrote: “As the borough does not have a five year land supply, the ‘tilted balance’ of the presumption in favour of development should apply. On the plus side of that balance, the provision of 80 flats would make a much needed contribution to local housing supply. 

“On the negative side, the loss of industrial floorspace in the converted building, and especially floorspace that supports the trademark Long Eaton furniture industry, would harm the local economy. 

“This is exacerbated by the incompatibility of the residential use proposed with the adjacent retained factory, and the restrictions on the operations at that factory that would be likely to follow.

“Though that would in part be compensated by the local economic benefits of the conversion, an overall moderate negative impact on the local economy would occur. 

“Of more concern is the actual quality of the residential accommodation provided, with the overwhelming majority of the flats proposed failing to meet the Nationally Described Space Standard. 

“This poor standard of amenity would be exacerbated by the direct disturbance from the operation of the adjacent factory on the half of the flats proposed that would directly face it, the poor outlook from all of the flats in the converted roof space, and the overlooking of the ground floor flats facing the yard. 

“The amenity of all the flats would be further undermined by the inadequate and insecure bin storage, and the unsafe pedestrian and cycle access. In combination these harms amount to a major negative impact, e.g. the benefit of providing the flats would be cancelled out by the poor amenity of those flats. 

“The harm to general road users from the failure to improve the access would also be a moderate negative impact on road safety, and the harm from poor design would be a moderate negative impact on local crime.”