Pleasley

This six-acre brownfield site was located within the settlement boundary. The former back-to-back pit houses had been cleared many years previously, although remnants of the properties remained. Ground investigations established that contamination was negligible and that the remaining structures presented no significant obstacle to redevelopment.

Three key issues had previously held back the site. Each was ultimately resolved through negotiation, careful planning and a practical technical approach.

The first concerned value clawback arrangements with British Coal. These were renegotiated so that the vendor satisfied the outstanding obligations from within the purchase price, establishing the agreed net acquisition value and avoiding an additional liability falling to the purchaser.

The second involved a number of garages and workshops which had been constructed illegally on the site over a period of years. These were occupied by local residents and were preventing development.

Although a conventional legal eviction process was available, this would have been inappropriate in the context of a tight-knit former mining community, as well as introducing additional time and risk to the acquisition. Instead, senior members of the local community were approached and assisted in bringing the occupiers together at a meeting in the local club.

Following discussions, the users of the structures collectively agreed to relinquish their occupations in return for relatively nominal payments. The overriding motivation was not financial but the opportunity to see the village move forward and provide new homes for younger families wishing to remain close to their existing family and community.

The third difficulty concerned an off-site highway junction where inadequate visibility splays meant that the additional traffic generated by the proposed development could not initially be accommodated.

The District Valuer was engaged and the adjoining landowner was willing to sell the land required to provide satisfactory sightlines. However, the price sought created an effectively insoluble off-site ransom strip situation.

An alternative solution was therefore developed with the assistance of a former Highway Authority engineer. A revised approach demonstrated that the required visibility could be achieved entirely within the existing highway through alterations undertaken using statutory highway powers, removing the need to acquire the adjoining land.

The three principal obstacles to development were consequently resolved, allowing the site to progress through the planning and development process.