Planning Concerns

The development of 600 more dwellings on Stanfree Farm

House developers have already undertaken development on what were Ash Farm and Sterry Farm on Mansfield road, Clowne (removing kilometres of hedgerow, mature and young trees, ecologically important grassland and disturbing the natural springs) and plan to further develop our green fields into concrete hell, wiping out a precious part of our Valley. The most recent plan is to build 600 and more house on Stanfree Farm, Low Road (formally Chambers Farm).

This is a serious matter for our community which will see the continued demise of our Village. It is also a serious matter for our neighbours in Clowne.

We have a list of objections which is constantly growing. . .

• Clowne does not have the infrastructure (including Doctors, Schools, Roads, Police, Sewerage Systems and other services) to support this kind of expansion into the Village of Stanfree.
• The construction work itself will create vast amounts of dust and soil erosion and will lead to mass deposits of materials creating hazardous conditions for drivers using Low road. Earth moving vehicles will cause danger in localised areas e.g. the top of Cliff Hill leading into Clowne and other bottleneck areas.
• The quality of life in our villages will be greatly impacted, reducing the quality of our lives because of increased localised pollution (dust, noise and noxious emissions), loss of trees and reduction of green spaces. People in Stanfree and Clowne chose to live in the countryside, not a city, not a town. Massive developments like this will place great stress on our villages.
• Higher accident rates / risks to pedestrians due to increased traffic hazards through the villages.
• Pressure on existing low resources will lead to depravity in our villages, perhaps increasing future crime rates in what is currently a low risk area.
• The existing Biodiversity has been observed by interested parties (wildlife enthusiasts and ecology practitioners) over many years. We are aware of the ecological worth of these green fields, natural springs, hedgerows and veteran trees that supportcommon mammals, protected species such as water voles, BAP species of birds and butterflies, farmland birds, pollinating insects, invertebrates and plant life. The existing species inventory could be lost forever.
• The area proposed for development stands on magnesium limestone rock with a complex system of underground and over ground springs. The disturbance of the natural water configurations will have a negative impact causing potential flooding to existing dwellings on Low road, or indeed the potential new builds at the bottom of the floodplain. Loss of trees and hedgerows on the valley hills will also create an imbalance leading to future flooding dilemmas.
• Food security. Building on Greenfield sites and productive farmland is not a long term plan in any situation. Potentially the vote to leave the EU will have a knock-on effect to our future farming requirements (with 34,000 fewer farms in the UK than there were a decade ago, more land should be made available to new groups of farmers and communities – Campaign for Rural England). Perhaps one day we will need our productive village farmland after all?