No 'proposal' for Bakewell Road

Thursday, 25 October 2012 14:17

Fact: There is no development proposal on the table for Matlock's Bakewell Road.

The District Council has chosen a developer for Bakewell Road, but not a development.

However, because of a large amount of misinformation in the media and elsewhere in recent weeks, local residents can be excused for believing that plans for Bakewell Road are far more advanced than they actually are.

There isn't yet a proposal from the developer for anyone to comment on.  Neither are there any formal illustrations.

The confusion seems to be around the successful developer's contract pitch.  This was not and is not a proposal.

The illustrations that accompanied the contract pitch are worthless in terms of what the development will actually look like - they weren't even part of the scoring mechanism.

So while the District Council is absolutely aware that the future of Bakewell Road is of massive importance, there is nothing yet for local people either to petition about or comment on. 

We have refused an application for an online petition on our website because we believe allowing people to sign up to oppose plans that don't yet exist would simply cause more confusion.

We are happy to repeat our pledge that the public will be the first to see and comment on the more realistic plans - which don't yet exist - before any formal planning application is submitted to the District Council. The consultation exercise will be thorough.

Timescale-wise, there's no chance of the developer presenting even a rough draft of a plan for Bakewell Road to council officers until an up-to-date assessment of the retail potential in and around Matlock has been done, and that hasn't started yet.