This morning I was delighted to welcome Nick Boles MP, Minister for Planning, to Amber Valley. He came to the Waingroves Methodist Church at my invitation to come and hear about planning issues which are causing concern to my constituents.
It was really encouraging to see a Minister hear concerns about planning matters.
One of the main problems that was raised was the amount of housing that the Borough Council state we need, along with how to meet the demands for public services that this would create. Nick also listened to concerns about the use of local greenbelt land and the Morrison’s development.
During the meeting I reiterated my position on the developments. In short, my position is that I remain unconvinced of the numbers of houses that the Borough Council states the area needs, I am not sure that the Council needs to build on greenbelt land to satisfy housing growth needs, and I remain sceptical about the need for a supermarket in Ripley. At every opportunity I have been given, I have made these points known in my representations to the Borough Council. You may read more about my stance on these matters here.
I’ll shortly add my comments about the latest draft of the Local Plan.
