Nearly 60 new homes to be built on Chesterfield site

Miller Homes has been granted conditional planning permission to build 55 properties on land at Newbold Road which was formerly occupied by Newbold Community School.

The homes will be a mixture of two, three, four and five bedrooms.

The brownfield land has been vacant since Derbyshire County Council demolished the former Newbold Community School in 2006.

When the planning application was submitted earlier this year, council chiefs sought agreement for up to 30 per cent of the properties to be affordable and a requirement that Miller Homes makes a Community Infrastructure Levy payment which will contribute to education and open spaces facilities, such as playgrounds, in the borough.

Councillor Terry Gilby, Chesterfield Borough Council’s deputy leader and cabinet member for planning, said: “This is an important site in the town and having 55 homes on this site will make an important contribution to the borough’s housing needs.”

Councillor Andy Botham, the county council’s cabinet member for council services, added: “This proposal shows how two authorities can work together to provide much-needed affordable housing in Derbyshire.”

During the consultation process, one resident wrote a letter to the borough council saying: “I fully support this development – and I’m sure most people in Newbold do.”

The new homes must be built within the next three years.

Newbold Community School, which has since been renamed Outwood Academy Newbold, moved off Newbold Road in 2006 to merge its lower and upper schools on a single site in Highfield Lane.

The borough council - which says it needs to build 7,600 homes by 2031 - approved the planning application at a meeting on Monday.