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MP challenges 'duplicitous' housing plans

Colin HazeldenDerbyshire political reporter
News imageBBC Linsey Farnsworth MP, standing in front of the Houses of Parliament with the River Thames in view wearing a red top and black jacketBBC
Linsey Farnsworth says plans in Kilburn and Crosshill should be refused

Two housing planning applications are "duplicitous" for the way they have been drafted to take advantage of new green belt rules, an MP says.

In a rare intervention for an MP Linsey Farnsworth, for Labour Amber Valley, has challenged plans for 200 homes at Kilburn, near Belper and another 80 at Crosshill between Ripley and Heanor.

Both applications are for green belt land and from Derbyshire homebuilder Wheeldon Brothers, which says it does not comment on individual applications and has not responded to Farnsworth's claims.

In letters to Amber Valley Borough Council planners, Farnsworth says she supports government housing targets but green belt changes need to be done by "strategic planning".

News imageA footpath sign on a stile post in the foreground points to green fields stretching to the horizon.
Plans for 200 homes have been submitted for green fields at Kilburn

In the planning applications at both Kilburn and Crosshill, Wheeldon Brothers (WB) argued land should be taken out of green belt because under the government's new planning framework the areas should be considered "grey belt" instead.

In her letters, Farnsworth said this was "duplicitous" because it was a "departure from both the existing and emerging local plans."

She said it was not usually appropriate for MPs to intervene in planning applications, but these cases had implications for the whole borough and she urged planners to carefully consider the hundreds of objections.

The government has a target of building 1.5m homes by 2030 and requires local authorities to review their green belt and identify land that could be moved into grey belt and used for building.

'No exceptional circumstances'

In their planning application, the developers said that under the latest National Planning Policy Framework the land at both sites could be changed to grey belt because it "did not strongly contribute" to three of the key purposes of green belt.

These are:

  • To check the unrestricted sprawl of large built-up areas
  • To prevent neighbouring towns merging into one another
  • To preserve the setting and special character of historic towns

Farnsworth said the applications were also duplicitous because they tried to change the status of land piecemeal when there was a full review of green belt to come, and also because the borough has already found land for enough homes to meet its targets.

"Given that the housing need is met within the emerging local plan, there are not exceptional circumstances in this case to justify the alteration of the green belt boundaries," she wrote.

Amber Valley Borough Council will make the decision on the applications, which could then go to appeal.

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