Derbyshire church to be turned into apartments despite concerns over parking
An old Derbyshire church will be turned into apartments despite concern over parking issues which limits the area to one-way traffic. At an Amber Valley Borough Council meeting last night (September 9) councillors approved plans from Houseshare Heroes to turn the former Kilburn Methodist Church in Chapel Street into 13 apartments.
The red-brick church, built in 1891, has been vacant for a number of years following a “dwindling” congregation with just 20 people attending some services. It would now be converted into 11 one-bed and two two-bed apartments.
Chapel Street residents said there was already a premium on parking spaces along the road with the route becoming one-way purely due to parked vehicles. Residents and councillors claimed this would only worsen if further housing was approved and that any change from the church ought to not require parking.
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The developer argued that the conversion would see the reuse of an historic building, instead of its further decay or demolition, as well as providing additional accommodation. Alan Redmond, a borough council planning officer, said the building was “getting into a state of disrepair”.
He said there was one key line of objection from residents and that was car parking but said that Derbyshire County Council highways officials had not raised any opposition. Cllr Trevor Ainsworth, the ward member for the site, said the new use of the church would create overlooking and privacy issues for surrounding homes.
He claimed construction vehicles arriving to carry out the conversion would have no choice but to entirely block the road which he said would cause “significant disruption”. Cllr Ainsworth said there have been six road traffic incidents in the past nine months, with parked vehicles “regularly damaged”.
He said one incident involved a car having a head-on collision with another car and the driver being unable to get out of their vehicle due to parking on each side of the road. Cllr Julie Whitmore said: “There is no spare space to park. Buses regularly have to mount the pavement. New residents will pass on parking issues to existing residents and people already have to step out into the road due to parked cars.”
A Chapel Street resident of 18 years, said they were not opposed to the conversion of the church into housing but did object to the potential parking and traffic issues. They said that of the 47 houses between the church and the local shop only 10 had off-street parking.
Church goers had visited on foot, she said, so that functions had not created a parking problem. They said all Chapel Street residents had dented vehicles due to the parking and traffic issues.
Cllr David Earnshaw, of Kilburn Parish Council, said the scheme represented overdevelopment and would place “strain on an already stretched infrastructure”. He said the development would lead to road closures and disturbance, with a need to “protect Kilburn’s future”.
Rob Duckworth, agent for the applicant, claimed the church was capable of accommodating up to 300 people and that use would restart at any time without the need for a planning application, and that the existing permission could see it become a gallery or a school. He said this could make parking issues “much worse”.
Mr Duckworth said there was a demand for one and two-bedroom accommodation that was not currently being met and that the conversion would represent the “second chance of life” for a “beautiful and historic building”.
Cllr Amanda Paget said the county council was to consult on painting yellow lines on the road past the site to restrict parking and that a decision on the church conversion should be deferred until the outcome of that consultation is published.
Cllr Chris Emmas-Williams, borough council leader, told the meeting: “This problem could be in any of the towns and villages in Amber Valley. There was a similar scheme in Codnor where there was no room for vehicles and the highways officers said residents would not have cars and we have to assume this will be the same.This could be any street in Amber Valley, we are all having the same problems.”
A vote to defer the decision until the outcome of the yellow line consultation was rejected and councillors chose to approve the plans.
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