Plan for 135 homes on former hospital site approved

Plans for up to 135 homes on a former hospital site in Derby have been given the green light.

Applicant Homes England will build a mix of houses and flats on land east of Kingsway Boulevard, which was previously used as a temporary car park for Royal Derby Hospital.

Objections were raised over access to the site and an increase in traffic and congestion close to the Kingsway Retail Park roundabout, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

However, Derby City Council's planning committee approved the plans at a meeting on Thursday.

The site was leased to the NHS as a temporary car park while University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Foundation Trust built a multi-storey car park at Royal Derby Hospital.

The scheme forms the final stage of the Manor Kingsway development, which will consist of 700 homes when complete.

Homes England previously said the proposals for the land, once home to Kingsway Hospital, would be "highly sustainable" and would regenerate a brownfield site.

Councillor Matthew Holmes said: "I don't have an issue with this application. It is an ideal site to supply housing that we need.

"This is the kind of site we need to be developing to meet our housing need."

Councillor Lucy Care, who voted against the plans, said the development would mean "losing an opportunity" to have retail and businesses based there, which would serve the wider Manor Kingsway housing area.

The site was intended for use as a business park in the original outline permission for the wider Manor Kingsway site, but a "lack of developer interest" and "changes in the city's housing needs" led to the site being promoted for housing.

Council planners said the site was in a "highly sustainable location" and has a component for 30% affordable housing.

Listen to BBC Radio Derby on Sounds and follow BBC Derby on Facebook, on X, or on Instagram. Send your story ideas to eastmidsnews@bbc.co.uk or via WhatsApp on 0808 100 2210.