Erewash council told to find space for 800 more homes

Erewash Borough Council must now found space for a total of 6,948 homes by 2037

A Derbyshire council has been told by a Government inspector that it needs to find space for more than 800 extra houses to be built in the next 13 years. Government planning inspector Kelly Ford, who is currently reviewing Erewash Borough Council’s core strategy – a blueprint for future development – has now said in a letter to the authority that it has a shortfall in the number of homes it has earmarked to be built up to 2037.

The council has outlined sites totalling 5,800 homes to be built up until 2037, at 386 homes per year, but new housing requirements would see the authority needing to build 6,948 houses. Ms Ford has now said the council can show a stretched trajectory of 6,128 homes, leaving a shortfall of 820 homes, of which 218 would be required for the authority to be able to demonstrate a five-year housing land supply – a vital requirement to fend off unwanted non-earmarked developments.

These extra homes would be in addition to housing sites within a plan which the Labour administration had sought to have scrapped and redrawn, having been drawn up under the Conservative administration, but this was blocked by central Government – when it was led by the Conservatives, through an intervention from now former North East Derbyshire MP and housing minister Lee Rowley. That plan includes 259 homes in the Spondon Green Belt, 600 homes in Oakwood, 1,000 homes and a bypass around Kirk Hallam, 250 homes at Cotmanhay Wood and 1,000 homes on the former Stanton Ironworks.

Ms Ford writes: “The lack of a five-year housing land supply makes the plan under examination unsound. Main modifications are therefore going to be required to rectify this significant soundness concern. Over the lifetime of the plan period there will be a shortfall of at least 820 dwellings, with at least 218 being needed to count towards the five-year housing land supply.

“In the event that further housing sites are required, the council should provide a clear timetable setting out how this can be achieved during the course of the examination.” Ms Butcher also details that insufficient evidence has been provided as to why individual, smaller sites could not be removed from the Green Belt to become housing sites, and why other land – around Kirk Hallam – is proposed to be added.

She says she cannot conclude whether a planned site of 600 homes off Acorn Way in Oakwood, Derby, could be included in the plan due to concerns from Derby City Council over highways and road safety issues for the two estate entrances onto Morley Road. Ms Butcher is also concerned at the inability to confirm that schools near the proposed 259-home site in Spondon, between the village and the wood, had sufficient capacity to take extra pupils or be expanded.

During the hearing the difficulty explained was that the homes would sit in Derbyshire County Council’s remit but students would look to attend Derby City Council schools. While the city council schools were closer the county council cannot allocate spaces outside of its own remit, officials explained.

Ms Butcher wrote: “I am inviting the council to identify how they wish to proceed to address the issues I have identified, particularly in relation to key matters such as the absence of a five-year housing land supply. This should include a clear timetable for additional work required to address the shortcomings identified.

“I would be grateful if the council could do this as soon as it is able to do so and, in the interim, provide an indication of when a response is likely.” The borough council has responded by launching a “call for sites” for developers to propose sites which could be delivered in time and fill the authority’s forecast shortfall – with a deadline of Wednesday, October 23, for submissions.

Cllr James Dawson, council leader, said: “The council supports the new Government’s planning reforms – since we want to see more homes built. Our mission is to ensure they are constructed where people need them. This includes more social housing.

“Having an up-to-date local plan is key to delivering the homes Erewash is crying out for – which is what our Core Strategy is all about. We are currently reviewing it at the request of the planning inspector – and are working hard so we can move forward on behalf of the borough’s residents.”

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