Housing plans for toxic landfill sites at Somercotes

Amber Valley Council has laid out where it would like to earmark housing for the next two decades and this includes multiple sites in Somercotes.

Two of the proposed sites, which have been identified for prospective developers, sit next to hazardous landfills known to have caused widespread contamination of surrounding land.

One would be a 75-home plot on an equestrian centre off Birchwood Lane in Somercotes, near two previously approved housing developments of 200 homes off Birchwood Lane and 180 homes off Stanley Street.

A smaller nearby site comprising 10 homes off Park Side in Somercotes has also been put forward, directly next to an approved site of 99 homes opposite the rugby club.

Both new submissions sit close to controversial former contaminated landfill sites.

The LS01 landfill, off Norman Road, and the LS41 landfill, on the Amber Valley Rugby Club site, had previously been used for dumping huge amounts of toxic waste.

The council says that for decades the toxic material dumped on the LS01 landfill in particular was not accounted for due to lax legislation at the time for hazardous waste disposal.

Campaigners and ground investigation reports detail contamination from these sites and its movement to adjoining plots has resulted in a risk to human health with widespread remediation required before anyone can live there.

Approved homes at the Birchwood Lane and Stanley Street sites will have suspended floors and a range of other measures installed in an aim to reduce the risk.

If the latest Somercotes sites are earmarked for houses, the area around the landfills could total 564 homes.

A third Somercotes housing site is also included in the council’s plans for future development, with 25 houses off Sleetmoor Lane.

The council has been given a target by central Government to see 376 homes built each year, totalling 6,392 by March 2039.

Amber Valley is now set to go out to public consultation on the proposed sites, with an aim to see its Local Plan rolled out by December 2023.