17 October 2004      Planning meeting is to be Wednesday 20 October 2004.

Unfortunately the Planning officers have narrowly decided that they should recommend approval of the development but the Planning committee could overrule this and are meeting to decide the Future of Riber. If you live locally Please make every effort to come to the meeting. You can even speak against it if you wish. (Members of the public will be allowed 3 minutes each to air their views). You will need to let them know you wish to speak before 12 noon on the day and you are requested to arrive about 15 minutes before the meeting.

22 April 2004      Planning application withdrawn

4 hours before the planning meeting to decide of the future of Riber the developers decided to withdraw the planning application but go ahead with listed building consent application

In a cynical move on the day of the planning meeting Cross Tower Ventures withdrew their application for planning permission. The planners had recommended that the council refuse the application so the developers -rather than have an open and frank debate about its merits withdrew. Their architect - Derek Latham said that they would move some of the new houses and resubmit a new application.

A huge amount of public funds had been spent on this application in consultants fees, site visits, councilors expenses, planning officials time, public notices, postage etc. and it has all been wasted by Cross Tower Ventures.

10 April 2004      Planning meeting is to be Wednesday 21 April 2004 at 6:00pm.

The Planning committee are now ready to meet to decide the Future of Riber. If you live locally Please make every effort to come to the meeting. You can even speak against it if you wish. (Members of the public will be allowed 3 minutes each to air their views).

The Keep Riber Rural campaign have produced two reports which can be downloaded here.
The first deals with the reasons why we feel that the application should be rejected.

Download it here The Future of Riber report 1 (pdf 988kb)

The second focuses on alternatives to a commercial housing development giving several ideas for a sustainable, public access solution with some details of how these may be funded

Download it here The Future of Riber report 2 (pdf 988kb)

25 Nov 2003       Planning meeting Postponed

The planning meeting to be held on 2nd December has been deferred.

The reason given by the planning department is that there has not been enough time for the statuary consultation process to consider the recent information. We can assume this means the report commissioned by the council DDDC into the financial viability of the proposal. The date has not yet been set for the planning meeting but it is not likely to be before the new year. Please check back here for the new date when it is announced.

14 Nov 2003      It is time for some urgent action from us all.

The Derbyshire Dales planning committee is meeting on December 2nd at Highfield School (Lumsdale site) at 6.00pm to finally make a decision on the application for housing development at Riber Castle .

We therefore have less than 3 weeks to make our views known to the planning committee. It is therefore crucially important that we have a final push to stop this appalling proposal.

Just to remind you, Cross Tower Ventures are asking for planning permission to:

• Convert the Castle itself into 26 apartments.
• Convert / develop existing buildings and sheds in the courtyard area into 12 dwellings.
• Build a further 8 large detached houses in the grounds. 5 of these would be in the fields to the West of the castle walls.

The consultant's report commissioned by DDDC into the financial viability of the proposal recently concluded that the applicants had underestimated the costs involved and that further development would be needed to make the project viable. At this stage we do not know exactly what additional development Cross Towers Ventures will be proposing but we have heard that permission may be sought for an additional 2 large detached dwellings.

We have been advised that writing to the planning committee does make a difference. If we all write to the planning department and encourage as many family and friends who share our views to do the same then we become a powerful voice.

Please copy this letter and send on to anyone who you think may support us.

Some of the key points that we have thought of are summarised below. You may wish to address these in your own letters along with any additional points you feel should be made to the planning committee but the important thing is to write and express your views as powerfully as you can.

You can contact the Keep Riber Rural Campaign at info@ribervillage.co.uk

Please get writing and encourage others.

Yours truly,

The Keep Riber Rural Campaign

The person to write to is:

Paul Wilson, Head of Planning, Derbyshire Dales District Council, Town Hall, Matlock

Email planning@derbyshiredales.gov.uk Phone: 01629 761336

The points below summarise some of the key issues. They may help you to write your letter but the most important thing is to write your own views and to encourage as many other people to write in as well. A short letter that powerfully makes just one point will have a big impact.

1. This hilltop site is simply no place for a housing development because the understated beauty of the area will be seriously damaged for ever.
   
2. The proposal flies in the face of every relevant aspect of the Derbyshire Dales Local Plan of 1998 and the 2003 Draft Plans as well as all government planning guidelines.
   
3. The castle is designated as a conservation area, a site of special landscape interest and is in the World Heritage buffer zone.
   
4. The expert consultants employed by the Planning department have concluded that
   • This proposal is not financially viable.
   • The costs have been understated and the risks have not been fully understood by Cross Tower Ventures.
   • The present application does not provide a basis for justifying enabling development.
     
5. Enabling development guidance is vital to this application.
   The proposal does not meet the enabling development criteria. These are summarised in the Derbyshire Dales 2003 draft plan as follows (Policy NBE22) which says
   
   Planning permission for development adjacent to or within the curtilage of a Heritage asset and used to fund the repair, restoration or improvement of a Heritage Asset will not be granted unless the scheme meets all four of the following tests
   
   • “It can be demonstrated that it is the only viable means of repairing, restoring or improving the heritage asset”
     
     It is not the only viable means since the not for profit alternatives have not been properly or thoroughly explored.
     
   • “It would not have an adverse impact on the archaeological, architectural, historic, or landscape interest of the Heritage Asset or its setting”
     
     It would clearly have an adverse impact since John Smedley built Riber Castle as a monumental landmark and it is this dominant position and isolated setting that is the real ‘value' of the castle and is what makes it unique. Turning it into flats and surrounding it with housing will change the Castle from something quite special into something very ordinary. The five (or more?) large detached houses to the West of the castle, with their gardens, driveways, fences, lighting and other paraphernalia will urbanise the currently rural setting .
   • “It can be demonstrated that the development is the minimum necessary to secure the long term future of the Heritage Asset”
     
     As long as the possibility remains that the long term future of the castle could be secured through a non commercial approach then it is not possible to argue that the current proposal represents the minimum development necessary to secure the future of Riber Castle.
     
   • “The benefits that accrue from the development outweigh any long term disbenefits.”
     
     This proposed development will have a powerful and negative impact on the setting of Riber Castle in the landscape and it will reduce its impact as a landmark. Consequently in trying to save the Castle it will be destroyed in all its important aspects.
     
     
6. This proposal would prevent local people and visitors from enjoying the Castle grounds for ever. As a local historic landmark every effort should be made to ensure that it is properly accessible to the public.
   
7. The Castle was the latest addition to this ancient hamlet of Riber (with only 15 dwellings plus a few outlying farms). It would be wrong to build 46 dwellings in this beautiful and historic area.
   
8. The local lanes simply cannot take this level of traffic. Construction traffic will create mayhem for several years followed by peak time traffic from residents. Many of 460 journeys per day will use Riber Hill, which is clearly a dangerous prospect.

Etc. etc. etc.!

If this dreadful proposal does get turned down then your letter will have played its part. Thank you for your continued support.

The Keep Riber Rural Campaign