Campaigners fear Bolsover water park scheme poses traffic congestion problems

Bolsover District Council is due to approve or refuse Great Lakes UK Ltd and Waystone Ltd’s planning application for a Great Wolf Resorts’ indoor water park and resort on land near Worksop Road, at Whitwell Common, near Clowne, Barlborough and Whitwell.

But after Derbyshire County Council’s highways authority requested more information in relation to the potential impact of the scheme on the A616/A619 Treble Bob roundabout, campaigners are not convinced by the applicant’s latest ‘Technical Note 12’ report to address traffic congestion.

Campaigner Dom Webb says Derbyshire County Council’s highways authority has yet to announce its updated position and he argued the applicant’s TN12 has failed to achieve modelled queues that reflect surveyed queues in four out of five areas off the roundabout.

Mr Webb argued it is also not known whether a traffic scheme designed for the approved Clowne Garden Village for 1,800 homes will be able to accommodate the proposed water park, and that model assessments at Chesterfield Road and Clowne Road junction have not been corrected in updates.

The proposed site for the Great Wolf Lodge resort is on 19.3 hectares of agricultural land and could feature a seven-storey, 512-room hotel, a water park, an adventure park, conference facilities, restaurants and staff accommodation with associated access, parking and landscaping.

Following the county council’s concerns, the applicants agreed to provide revised modelling for the Treble Bob junction with measures to reduce travel demand associated with cars alongside growth assumptions.

Additional effects from the scheme would be concentrated on Oxcroft Way, according to the report, with much smaller queue increases on the A616 approach from Junction 30, of the M1 motorway.

Campaigner Roger Dell dismissed the applicant’s claim that the scheme cannot be refused on highways grounds as ‘completely worthless’ and he urged the council to consider ‘congestion displacement’ and the knock-on effect of rat-runs.

He said the report fails to acknowledge that when queues on Oxcroft Way cause congestion on the Barlborough Links roundabout drivers take a rat-run through Slayley View estate emerging onto the Treble Bob roundabout.

He said: “The rat-running through the residential estate presents additional road safety danger coinciding with the times when primary school children are going to school.”

The Say No to the Wolf campaign group raised concerns the scheme will pose increased traffic and environmental harm combined with the separate Clowne Garden Village housing development.

Clowne Garden Village Action Group campaigners, opposed to Waystone Ltd’s approved housing scheme, also claim any additional developments such as the water park could have a combined detrimental effect on highways and the environment.

Clowne Parish Council and Whitwell Parish Council raised objections due to the scale of the scheme, and Derbyshire County Council and Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust have raised concerns about potential flooding.

Great Wolf Resorts hopes its scheme will create about 600 jobs, deliver significant economic, social and environmental benefits, and direct investment into the area.

It also stated guests tend to arrive gradually at different times rather than all together.

The American-based Great Wolf company aims to re-wild 5.7 hectares to the west of the site and there are plans to plant thousands of trees with improvements to hedgerows.

East Midlands Combined County Authority Mayor Claire Ward has expressed support for the scheme to boost tourism and economic growth.