Amber Valley Borough Council
Amber Valley Borough Council scraps controversial future housing blueprint
A new plan would take up to four years and cost £1.4 million
Eddie BisknellLocal Democracy Reporter
Amber Valley Borough Council's costly and controversial blueprint for future housing development has been scrapped.
The area's current Local Plan only covers 2006 to 2011. The latest draft was set to cover 2011 to 2028.
However, it has now been ditched, following a borough council meeting this week (Wednesday, May 23) due to controversy over 15 development sites in the protected green belt.
The overall vote on whether or not to scrap the document was 26 in favour, zero against and 17 abstaining.
An out-of-date local plan makes it more difficult for councils to manage residential planning applications submitted by developers.
Green belt protesters outside Ripley Town Hall (Image: Ben Bellamy / Derby Telegraph)
With the rejection of the draft Local Plan for Amber Valley, planning officers and opposition councillors suggest this situation could now worsen.
The incoming Labour administration, which seized back control from the Conservatives in this month's local elections, felt that enabling houses to be built in the green belt was unacceptable.
Scrapping the current draft has reset the process and officers say that drawing up a new plan could take up to four years.
The process of scrapping the current document and drawing up a new one could cost £1.4 million over five years.
Since 2016, the authority has spent £785,000 on preparing the Local Plan.
Officers say that it would need to cover the period up to 2038.
Dozens of protesters from the borough's green belt campaign groups rallied outside Ripley Town Hall before the meeting to urge for the local plan to be withdrawn.
Labour leader Councillor Chris Emmas-Williams, said that this could be the authority's last chance to get a plan in place, and that the decision would mean that local communities would continue to have to fight against what they consider to be inappropriate development.
Deputy leader, Labour's Councillor Ben Bellamy, said: "As we have been told for a number of years whilst the Tories have bumbled along failing to get a plan in place, as soon as their plan was finished a new plan would be required to be started.
"The Tory's Local Plan is a very bad plan, threatening green belt across the borough, containing world heritage buffer land in Belper and dangerously contaminated land at cinderhill.
"No plan is better than a bad plan, but we will now commence on a new plan that protects our heritage, health and green belt, and delivers the right homes in the right places."
Other threats to the council include potential "significant" legal costs for fighting planning appeals.
The authority could also have its Local Plan called in for judicial review, likely to cost around £50,000.
Leader of the Conservatives, Councillor Kevin Buttery, said: "Labour have taken a huge gamble with the future housing needs of Amber Valley and its financial resilience.
"Having built their manifesto around scrapping the current proposed Local Plan and restricting building to Brownfield sites only, Labour had no option but to withdraw it and start again.
"Failure to do so would have been a slap in the face and a betrayal of every elector who they had made that promise to. It is quite hypocritical that for the last few years they have criticised us for not getting on with completing an Adopted Plan and how much it was costing.
"Once in charge Labour tell us it will now take over four years and cost in excess of £1.4 million to undertake a new one.
"But the biggest risk for me is changing strategy from building around towns which have infrastructure, to concentrate house building around villages like Crich, Heage, Codnor and Duffield that will not cope with such a huge increase.
Conservative Group leader in Amber Valley, Kevin Buttery (Image: Derby Telegraph)
"They have put the whole of Amber Valley at risk and brought all the discounted greenbelt sites back into consideration."
The authority's first ever Green Party councillor, Dave Wells said: "I see this as an opportunity to be positive, to involve Amber Valley residents in putting together a local plan which reflects their wishes.
"If we proceed with the Local plan as it is, it seems that it can show a five-year housing supply only by taking out of the green belt fourteen parcels of land.
"We have all seen the strength of feeling shown by Amber Valley residents against this proposal.
"If the inspector finds that there are no exceptional circumstances for removing this land from the green belt, then does that not mean we need to start again anyway?
"So, we need to look again at the assessment of housing need and supply, especially in relation to brownfield sites, but we also need to have a local plan which recognises the existence of climate change.
Dave Wells, the successful Green Party candidate in Duffield in this year's Amber Valley Borough Council election (Image: Derby Telegraph)
"I am hopeful that Westminster may soon be legislating for a net-zero carbon future, and Amber Valley Borough Council (ABVC) must have policies and plans to make this happen.
"A local plan which takes land out of the green belt does not do this.
"A local plan which permits the building of huge houses, low-density housing, housing built only to standard building regulations does not do this.
"AVBC is in a position to make a difference. Let's do it."
Conservative MP backs Labour bid to scrap Amber Valley's future housing blueprint
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