Comments on Planning Application DMPA/2023/0700

Please find the comments on Planning Application DMPA/2023/0700, that were submitted to South Derbyshire District Council Planning Department on 11th March 2025

Description of Planning Application: Repton School, Workshop Latham House ,Tanners Lane, Repton, Derby, DE65 6FP: Change of use of a field from agriculture to education and the creation of two 3G football pitches with the associated floodlighting and fencing, the erection of a changing room pavilion building with tiered spectator seating, the erection of four Padel Tennis courts (two covered), the relocation and extension of an existing groundman’s maintenance shed and the creation of a new car park area with the associated lighting and EV charging points and improved vehicular access road. – The above application has been amended. The amendments are summarised as: Amendments to the proposed scheme have been received, the description of development has been changed and additional information has been received and is available to review on the South Derbyshire District Council Website.

The Repton Parish Council would raise the following comments on the revised Planning Application DMPA/2023/0700 – Repton School 3G Pitches –

It is noted that the original application was withdrawn after its consultation period.  The application has been revived but it is still using the original application form.

Comments –

1. The Repton and Milton Neighbourhood Development Plan (NDP) has not been addressed at all in the application.  This failure by a local applicant is surprising and needs to be addressed since it has equal weight to the SDDC Local Plan.  This comment was made by the Repton Parish Council against the original application but it continues to be ignored in this revised application.  In particular the following NDP policies need to be clearly referenced and covered in the application –
   1. OS2 – The impact of new development on views and the view from the countryside. (It is noted that SDDC planners requested the applicant to assess the proposal against this NDP policy).
   1. CLE1 – Improvements in sport and play facilities.
   1. CLE3 – Support for Existing and New Businesses. 
2. The Parish Council supports the statement in paragraph 3.7 of the Planning Statement –     When not required by the school, the 3G pitches will be available to Repton Casuals and Willington FC. Pitch hire will also be available to the local community.  The proposal in paragraph 5.26 – Repton School proposes to hire out the pitches to the community at market rates comparable with the 3G pitch at Pingle Academy. The School proposes to subsidise Repton Casuals and Willington FC with a 15% discount from the general community rate. This will be secured via the Community Use Agreement, is also supported by the Parish Council.
3. The Planning Statement states that the facility will help fill a local need for the local community.
   1. The Application quotes SDDC Local Policy S1 (in para 4.9) as being supportive citing section S1 iii) ‘Provide new infrastructure to support the growth across the District. This will include new transport and education provision, and other services and facilities’.  However section iii) of Policy S1 is included in order to support either growth in housing (S1 i) or employment (S1 ii) in South Derbyshire.  The application does not support either of these requirements so Policy S1 is not relevant and cannot be used to support the application.
4. A condition, if the application was granted, would be needed that covers the priority of use by the local community (Repton and Milton, Willington and Newton Solney) to support SDDC Policy INF9.  We would like the following statements to be agreed by the School and binding as part of planning approval:  Repton School commits to making the pitches available to Repton Casuals and Willington FC and the local community (Repton and Milton, Willington and Newton Solney) in line with the timetables included in the application.
5. Paragraph 5.57 states that the access has good visibility both ways.  This is not true for traffic coming up Burton Road from the Cross where visibility is severely hampered by the high bank supporting a large tree.  Nor is there good visibility when turning right out of Tanners Lane because of the same tree and bank.  The Tree and bank should be removed to increase visibility.  There should be a condition of planning approval that the bank be reduced in height and the tree replaced further away from Burton Road.
6. The local Community Speed Watch has shown significant speeding on Burton Road. The Repton Parish Council, with the support of Repton School, currently supports a 20mph speed limit in the Tanners Lane area of Burton Road because of the risk to pedestrians and the observed traffic speed in that area.  Derbyshire County Council Highways Department is aware of our concerns.  The situation would be made significantly worse with the volume of traffic from the facility, particularly in the event of a knock out tournament, with traffic entering and exiting at similar times.  It should be a condition, if the application is granted, that a 20 mph limit should be imposed on the Tanners Lane area of Burton Road. 
7. The use of the facility must not negatively impact the use of the Village by residents.  The application defines 67 parking spaces with seating for 168 spectators provided in the stand.  With the number of players, officials and organisers involved, if more than four teams are involved in an event (e.g. a knockout competition) then parking at the facility must be restricted to participants only and spectators would be required to park elsewhere on the applicant’s estate and suitably marshalled. This would need to be a condition of use if the application was approved.  Double yellow lines at the Tanners Lane area of Burton Road to stop any inconsiderate and dangerous parking should also be installed.  (It is noted that the application states that coaches would be required to use the Repton Sports Centre parking or other parts of the school estate and needs to be included as a condition if approved.)  The assumptions in the Applicants Traffic Statement are plainly wrong and grossly underestimates potential users and their transport needs.  The use of an overflow car park on an adjacent green field for these situations will mean there will be considerably more cars than parking places using Tanners Lane.
8. The access assessment in the application states the access to the facility will be limited to Minibuses of up to 17 seats and would need to be a condition of use. 
9. The increase in traffic modelled by Integrated Transport Planning Ltd. and documented in section 5 of their May 2023 report “Transport Statement” which might naively assume that drivers know when the car park is full and not proceed down Tanners Lane.  This statement shows 66 cars leaving the new facility at roughly the same time that day pupils are leaving their houses – some on foot and some being collected in cars.  The Transport Statement is also naive in assuming that the car park, Padel Courts and pitches will generate no more traffic at any other time.  Match days and other busy days will see large volumes of traffic movements which may be marshalled to prevent parking overflow but will not stop the movements themselves.  There could also the use of an overflow car park on an adjacent green field to the facility that will mean there will be considerably more cars than parking places using Tanners Lane.   This will cause Tanners Lane to be very busy at times and, for the protection of all pedestrians, we require that a new footway (Public Right of Way) is built along Tanners Lane from Burton Road to Jeremiah’s Walk with a high kerb (or equivalent) that cannot be overrun by Range Rovers and the like.
10. The design and supporting documentation of the Floodlights (planning statement para 5.70) must be clarified and consistent (eg height) to allow the planned design, to minimise light pollution and glare external to the site, to be agreed with SDDC before construction is started as a condition if the application was approved.  The installed lights would also need to be reviewed by SDDC after installation, to assess their effect on the surrounding environment following the installation of the recent floodlights at the Repton Sports Centre and the problems faced by drivers using the Willington to Repton road that were found.
11. Repton has a wealth of historic links going back to before the time of Vikings.  The application planning statement, in paragraph 5.84 to 5.90, covering other material considerations makes no reference to any heritage requirements. The application does however include a desk top assessment in the supporting documentation.  We do not consider the use of a desk top Archaeological assessment to be adequate at this site.  This supported by Appendix 1 (attached) to this document and would require the involvement of competent archaeologists in the work as a condition if the application was approved.
12. The hours of floodlight use need to be restricted to from 9am to 9pm throughout the year to minimise disturbance to the local community (paras 5.12 and 5.29).
13. The Padel courts cause considerable noise, and in some instances have been refused an application, because of the gun shot sound that happens with every shot.  For any housing near the courts, this would be unnerving and socially disruptive.  We therefore respectively suggest that the courts should be moved as far from housing as possible, both school houses of Latham, Garden and Field as well as Serendipity at the end of Tanners lane and houses on Burton Road.  There should be an assessment of noise nuisance and the provision of sound deadening features to produce adequate noise reduction in the design for SDDC approval as a condition.  We would require the use of the Pitches, court lighting and back ground music to be ceased at 9 pm sharp throughout the year.

Until the points raised above have been satisfactorily answered The Repton Parish Council is bound to object to the application as it stands.

Appendix 1.

Comments provided by a knowledgeable parishioner.

There are concerns about the plans to develop this land as, in addition to the building work, it will almost certainly involve elements of levelling and terracing which would destroy any archaeological evidence – which may span a thousand years.

It is generally accepted that by 550CE there was a recognisable Anglo-Saxon settlement in Repton preceded by the Romano British – evidence of which was found during the construction of the Science Priory. All the land around that site has been either terraced or not archaeologically explored and it is unknown how far west, this or later settlement may have extended. From this and the earlier Roman period, there may be evidence of settlement and field boundaries in the area in question.

The Viking winter camp in 873/4 used Repton as a base for its attack on Burghred in Tamworth, but given the improved understanding of the size of the Great Heathen Army, it could not have been camped only in the D-Shaped enclosure embracing the church. Foremark is a Norse name and a good clue that parts of the army (and there were 5 separate groups) were camped there – supported by archaeological evidence. However it is likely that the army – likely to be around 5000 strong ¹ – was camped all along the high ground over the Trent from the Viking Cremation Cemetery in the east at Heath wood towards Newton Solney in the west with Repton as a central point.

In later times, antiquarians (Hipkins and Bigsby² ) note stone work being found along the high ground west of the core village in the area of the proposed work.

A desk-based study is considered inadequate as no archaeological work has been done there and so there will be nothing for a desk-based study to find. Ideally a geophysical survey would be carried out and, at the very least, a competent archaeological watch be kept and techniques for levelling and terracing used which will enable this watch to be effective. It is likely that metal detecting has already taken place over the years and the finds dispersed, but it might still be worth offering an opportunity to a responsible detecting club.

1. In the 1960’s the army was thought to be in the hundreds. Archaeological work at Torksey (the winter camp in 872/3 – before Repton) changed that – a much bigger site. Coupled with the A-S Chronicle’s evidence of a 300 ship Viking Fleet in the Thames Estuary in 851CE and similar large numbers at other times, carrying maybe 10,000 people  the army could be bigger than 5000 and occupy considerable space.
2. Bigsby: PP114, 115