New apartments plan gets the go-ahead - with strings attached

Land at the rear of 9b Lees Street, South Normanton, has been earmarked for the building which will contain five flats.

The former site compound for The Hub during its construction has been redundant since the centre opened 12 years ago to provide health services, council offices and a community police base.

Full planning permission for the apartments has been granted by Bolsover Council, but with strings attached.

The planning authority has set out 15 conditions including several which must be carried out and approved by the council before development can begin.

These stipulations include an investigation to see if there is any contamination of the land, which is in a coal mining referral area with a low-medium risk of subsidence and immediate reporting if contamination is discovered.

Jessica North, of Lees Lane, raised concerns about the increased traffic the apartments would generate, adding the design and access statement accompanying the application indicated the planned five two-bedroom and two one-bedroom apartments would share just one visitor parking space and each flat would have just one parking space.

Miss North said: “There are already ongoing issues of parking on the double yellow-lined areas on the access road of Lees Lane and Shiners Way.

“As a result, sole accesses to existing dwellings are obstructed, the flow of traffic is affected and it creates congestion. Insufficient traffic enforcement officers to the area have resulted in an ongoing problem.”