Plans for 160 homes have been filed for Green Belt land between a Derby suburb and a nearby village

The planned site of 160 homes in Breadsall Hilltop. Image from Google.

Plans for 160 homes have been filed for Green Belt land between a Derby suburb and a nearby village.

Derby-based firm Wheeldon Brothers has applied to build 160 homes off Hungerhill Close in Breadsall Hilltop, on grassland between the Derby suburb and neighbouring Breadsall.

If granted permission by Erewash Borough Council, the project, which leads through an existing large newbuild estate, would include 72 properties (45 per cent) classed as affordable housing.

The Breadsall Hilltop plot is a further attempt from Wheeldon Brothers, following numerous other applications in Amber Valley and Erewash, to build houses on land it feels should be relabelled as ‘grey belt’, due its perceived lack of contribution to or improvement of the surrounding area.

This application also follows a statement from Erewash’s officials last month that they were seeing “more than anticipated” numbers of applications for homes on Green Belt, arguing grey belt designation.

They referred to a Government ministerial statement which says authorities are prevented from refusing housing plans for more than 150 properties without ministerial approval.

Officers say the current batch of new applications on Green Belt plots are for that size of development specifically, or just above, to avoid rejection by the council.

Wheeldon Brothers filed a plan for 150 homes off Bostocks Lane in Risley, on the Green Belt next to the M1, in April.

Its Amber Valley Green Belt plans include 80 homes in Crosshill and 200 homes in Kilburn, prompting mass opposition campaigns.

The firm argues that its Breadsall Hilltop plans ought to be approved because the Green Belt land “does not strongly contribute to purposes of the Green Belt” and should be classed as grey belt.

It says Erewash has a “demonstrable unmet need for residential development because their housing delivery has fallen below 75% of their housing requirement over the past three years”.

The firm also says: “The proposed development would be in a sustainable location within an established residential [area] of Breadsall Hilltop in close proximity to a range of local services and facilities, including those available on Sir Frank Whittle Way, as well as ease of access to higher order services and facilities in the city of Derby.

“The overall assessment confirms that there are no significant or demonstrable harms that would arise from the proposed development. There would be no adverse impacts that would arise, which would outweigh the benefits of the scheme – rather the benefits weigh strongly in favour of the proposal.”

The firm says the Great Northern Gateway and associated woodland, between Breadsall and Breadsall Hilltop, restricts housing expansion merging the two settlements, removing the need for this particular set of fields to remain vacant to prevent the two merging.

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