Derbyshire kennel and cattery owner fears she will have to close her business - after large industrial units approved

Amber Valley Borough Council approved plans from Clowes Developments to build six large warehouses off Birchwood Way in Somercotes.

During the meeting, councillors voted against a call for a site visit, which local councillor John McCabe called a “total disgrace for local democracy”.

A number of residents and councillors opposed the plans which would now see industrial units up to 15 metres tall built a few dozen metres away from houses in Birchwood Way.

Cllr Steve Marshall-Clarke said the development would cause shade to cast over gardens in Birchwood Lane half an hour earlier.

Rae Gee, a borough council planning officer, said that the closest garden to the units would be 40 metres away.

She said this was a “significant” distance and that earth bunding would be built and trees would be planted in the gap between the homes and industrial units.

Sarah Towndrow, who owns the Birchwood Boarding Kennels and Cattery, adjacent the proposed site, feared she would have to close her business if the industrial units are approved.

She said the trees which would be planted to obscure the units would take years to grow.

Ms Towndrow said: “I own the cattery on the western boundary and I am worried for my business.

“I look after people’s cats and dogs and take care of them. How am I going to do that when this development is under construction for years on end and with chainsaws going cutting down trees.“What do I do? Do I close the business down so that this business can go ahead? To be honest, it is a worrying time.”

Judy Mallaber, a Somercotes resident, said: “It is going to completely ruin that area. You can’t just protect the Green Belt and leave every other area unprotected.

“There is excessive housing and industrial use in the area and this will ruin the semi-rural feel of the area.”

She said a 2009 ground contamination plan had found dangerous chemicals including dioxins on the proposed site, saying “that contamination has not vanished”.

Ms Mallaber said the proposed site looked very similar to the Amber Valley Rugby Club site off the B600, which is widely contaminated and has been subject to a planning inquiry and High Court battle.

Pamela Fabianska, who also lives in Somercotes, said: “There is no need for this industrial site, it is development for the sake of development.

“A lot of older people and people with young children enjoy walking on this site. This is an asset in their neighbourhood.

“There are a lot of empty units on industrial estates in the area already and combining the industrial units with houses is excessive. This area won’t be rural and people will not be overlooking paddocks and fields, they will be overlooking industrial units.

“You need to look at the 2009 site investigation report, it is an evil site, it is a contaminated site.

“That water has to go somewhere it has nowhere to go but to flood houses in Lower Birchwood.”

Cllr Jack Brown said the proposal could cause a positive outcome if it was tweaked to allow HGVs driving to other industrial sites in the area to be taken off Birchwood Lane and through to the motorway without obstructing other traffic.

Cllr McCabe said: “You’re destroying a nice bit of green space, you could have the destruction of Pennytown Ponds on your hands.

“This site has been refused before and now there is a new contamination report, one for and one against.

“This could affect Pennytown Ponds in the future.”

Michael Bamford, agent for the applicants, said that the principle of the application had been approved and that it remains allocated in the council’s current but long out-of-date Local Plan – a blueprint for future development.

He said: “There is a significant need for employment land and this application will provide a lot of employment land.

“We have listened and changed the scheme, there is a biodiversity net gain. I absolutely understand that in plan form this does look very close to houses, but it is a significant distance.”

Ms Gee said: “I do appreciate it will be a great change for those houses, to go from fields to planting and these units.”

She said the wildlife trust had not raised concerns about the proposals and that the distance between the units and homes was “significantly” greater than other industrial sites.

Ms Gee said there was “nothing significant in the contamination report” and did not identify “significant ground contamination issues” and “nothing untoward that could cause issues on this site”.

Cllr Emma Monkman said she was “deeply concerned” that the wildlife trust’s analysis had been based on a 2006 survey, calling that “deeply troubling”.

She said the proposed cut and fill of the sloping site to create a “development plateau” would see an eight-metre platform raised for the new units, fearing this would cause flooding in Birchwood Lane homes.

Cllr Steve Marshall-Clarke said: “There are significant issues with industrial pollution in Pennytown Ponds, if any contamination makes it from the flood lagoons it will make it into Pennytown Ponds, it could be a grave concern to a nature reserve.”

Cllr Alison McDermott said the scale of the proposed units was the biggest issue and that they were “out of scale” compared to neighbouring houses.

Councillors voted to approve the scheme by a vote of six votes for and four against.

The six warehouse units would include a total of 19,652 square metres of floor space.