Belper Civic ForumThe Civic Society of Belper and Milford in Derbyshire

The meadows land from Derwent Street to the Aristoc facory, including the footbridge over the river, is owned by the Strutt (Kingairloch) Estate.  Some years ago Tesco took out an option to buy it all.
In September 2010 Amber Valley Borough Council voted to negotiate to acquire most of the area and the bridge from Tesco on behalf of Belper Town Council for a public park.  But they said that any such transaction would not depend on their granting planning consent for Tesco's planned development. 

We're pleased to announce that we have been successful in our campaign to raise funds for a scale model of the Meadows Edge area of Belper.  A combination of £3,250 from the Big Lottery and £200 from Belper Rotary Club has enabled us to commission Robin Pierce of local design practice Poco Design.  He will make the wooden model, which will cover the area from the East and North Mill to Morrisons, and from the railway to the river.
 

Amber Valley Borough Council is re-starting the process of producing a planning brief (Supplemntary Planning document) for the vital Meadows Edge site in Belper.
 
At its meeting on 19 September, the Council voted to start the work after a break of 18 months.  The document covering this can be found at http://www.ambervalley.gov.uk/council-and-democracy/councillors,-democra...
 

On Monday 22 February, Amber Valley Planning Board failed to adopt the proposed Development Brief for the Meadows Edge site.  This may have been due to the call for a judicial review on the consultation process which we understand has been made by Friends of the Earth lawyers.  Civic Forum committee member Stephen Heathcote pointed out at the meeting that although the Council had listed representations made on the Brief document at its various stages so far, they had failed to provide the legally necessary statement explaining how the Brief was shaped and who had been consulted