Following the withdrawal of the Local Plan in May 2019, Amber Valley Borough Council remains committed to securing an up to date Local Plan for Amber Valley and is working to a timetable to adopt a new Local Plan by March 2023.

One of the key requirements for producing a new Local Plan will be to identify sufficient land for housing and economic development to meet the identified need within the borough, whilst at the same time ensuring that such land can be readily brought forward for development, including to enable the borough council to demonstrate a five-year supply of deliverable sites.

The borough council has previously established a list of potential housing sites, which have been included in its Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment (SHLAA). In line with the National Planning Policy Framework, the borough council is now seeking to review this by producing a Strategic Housing and Economic Land Availability Assessment (SHELAA) to ensure that the range of potential sites for both housing and economic development within the borough is up to date.

As part of the process of producing the SHELAA the borough council is undertaking a ‘call for sites’ inviting landowners, developers or other interested parties to put forward one or more potential sites for housing development, ranging from small-scale sites (capable of accommodating 5 or more dwellings) to opportunities for large-scale developments (such as extensions to urban areas and/or villages and new settlements where appropriate) and/or potential sites for economic development (sites of 0.25ha or greater, or 500m2 of floorspace or greater). The borough council would particularly welcome the submission of previously developed (brownfield) land in order to maximise potential development on such land.

The borough council would also welcome potential sites being put forward for other uses, including:

• Gypsy and traveller accommodation
• Retail
• Community facilities
• Sports / leisure development

All potential sites submitted through the ‘call for sites’ process will then be subject to a detailed assessment in relation to their suitability, availability and deliverability, taking into account potential constraints to development.

The SHELAA will be an important source of evidence to inform the new Local Plan. However, it should be emphasised that the inclusion of any site in the SHELAA does not imply that the site would be allocated in the Local Plan, or that planning permission will be granted for development.

• Online site suggestion form
• MS word version of site suggestion form
• Guidance notes

Alternatively, a paper copy can also be requested by emailing ldf@ambervalley.gov.uk or by telephoning 01773 841584.

Completed forms should be returned to:

By email ldf@ambervalley.gov.uk

or by post to:

The Planning Policy Team
Amber Valley Borough Council
Town Hall
Ripley
Derbyshire
DE5 3BT

no later than 4:30pm on 31 March 2020.

All completed forms should be accompanied by an up to date Ordnance Survey (OS) map at an appropriate scale showing the site in context to its surroundings and clearly identifying the exact boundaries of the site. Please provide as much detail as possible about the site or sites on the form(s), as this will enable the borough council to give full consideration as to their suitability, availability and deliverability.

Please note that any previous submissions to the SHLAA will not automatically be taken into account, so if you have previously made any submission(s), you will need to confirm whether you still wish for these to be considered along with providing any updated information by using the site suggestion form.

All sites submitted through the ‘call for sites’ will be assessed using the SHELAA methodology, which has been written in accordance with National Planning Practice Guidance (NPPG)

Alfreton Town Council have taken the decision to close their office and for their business to be conducted through staff working from home.

This decision has been made in light of the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak and the risk to vulnerable staff and members.

Inevitably, Town Council business will be affected, however the staff will work hard to maintain continuity and where possible support will be provided to the community through partnership working with local professionals.

Please be aware that the Town Council have the equivalent of 1.5 staff members who normally work Tuesday to Thursday between the hours of 9-3pm. Please consider this when contacting staff and bear in mind that the Town Council may not be the most appropriate service to contact.

At its meeting on January 28^th 2020, Alfreton Town Councillors met with representatives from East Midlands Railways (EMR) as part of their ongoing campaign to protect direct services from Alfreton to London and provide long overdue step free access at the station.

In respect to the December 2020 proposal to abolish direct services to the capital, the meeting heard how the timing of the franchise award had compressed the preparation of the consultation process and EMR acknowledged that this process could have been much better. The meeting also heard how operational needs arising from fleet changes and reductions in high speed trains had forced the proposed changes, which were as a result of the recent franchise award.

The meeting received a letter from the Secretary of State for Transport noting that timetable proposals were a matter for EMR, although this was contradicted at the meeting where a number of potential suggestions from members to retain the services to London were dismissed due to timetable requirements set by the Minister’s Department. In addition to raising serious concerns around inadequate consultation process, members raised issues around economic and environmental impacts, the challenges faced in changing trains at Nottingham, premium fares via Chesterfield and anticipated loss of evening services from Nottingham.

There was some positive news in respect to the late evening services from Nottingham, where EMR committed to replacing the removed London services with local services, details which were not in the consultation document, or seemingly on offer, as recently as November.

Councillor Scott Walker Leader of the Council drew the debate to a close by summarising the discussions and commented that in his near twenty years’ service on the Council, that he could not recall a matter in which: MP’s, the County, Borough and Town and Parish Councils were all agreed on. He urged EMR to find a way to retain the London services and recognise not only the views on the civic leaders, but the near 4000 people who had signed both electronic and paper petitions.

After concluding discussions around the timetable changes, attention moved the long-promised access improvements to platform 2. Members were reminded of an Equality Act action from a local family, which the Town Council helped instigate some years ago. They also heard of comments via social media of rail user’s concerns that the matter of access has taken too long to resolve.

The meeting heard that one of the rail organisations had denied any liability and how legal papers had gone astray. An EMR representative described parts of the process as appalling and that as far as EMR is concerned, he would ensure that the matter is put in the appropriate hands.

Councillor Scott Walker commented that ‘it’s simply not acceptable that a station with footfall in excess of three hundred thousand people per year does not have ‘Access for All ‘ to both platforms ‘

and members generally echoed their frustrations that the bridge access dilemma has gone on for far too long.

In proposing that the Town Council should continue its opposition to the timetable changes and continue to campaign to ensure ‘Access for All’ at the Station Councillor Scott Walker said that ‘this  highlights the failings in the franchise system, where there is seemingly a merry-go-round between Ministers, Network Rail and Train Operators.’