Historic Derbyshire farmhouse to be torn down to make way for modern home

The replacement property, which would sit on the site of a 200-year-old Derbyshire farmhouse has been compared to Chatsworth House and said to be more in keeping with Beverly Hills – home of Hollywood’s stars.

Derbyshire Dales District Council has approved plans from property developer Tim Tomlinson to demolish and redevelop a site at Nether Hillside Farm in Biggin, in the countryside between Ashbourne and Belper.

The plans would see the Georgian farmhouse, believed to be from around the earlier 18th century, between 200 and 250 years ago, demolished due to issues with its structural integrity.

Council officers agreed that the current farmhouse “does not make a positive contribution to the landscape character”.

However, parish councillors and residents living nearby feel the farmhouse is a “beautiful period property” which ought to be restored.

They feel the proposed new five ensuite bedroom property – including a sauna, gym, six-car garage and a cinema – would be wildly out of keeping with the rural character of the area.

Louise Redfern, chair of the Biggin by Hulland Parish Meeting, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that “the sadness of the destruction of this Georgian farmhouse in the community is unbearable”.

She claimed the current property could be redeveloped and restored and “the developer just wants to flatten it and build a massive new house”.

Ms Redfern said: “I just think it is terrible that this is happening in our rural village. It is not derelict, the developer has been living in it, it has a terrible extension that was never completed and all the focus has been on the poor extension – which should be knocked down.

“I just think it is wrong. There is severe opposition from residents and we don’t feel they (councillors) took any notice of the public and yet what the developer said was like gospel.

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“It is devastating for the community and the countryside and the precedent it will set. I don’t think anyone comprehends how big this is going to be when it is built.”

Ms Redfern told a district council meeting earlier this month: “This will fundamentally change the landscape and destroy a beautiful period property if this planning application is allowed and permitted and it is wrong that it should be destroyed to allow for a proposed building out of the scale.

“It is nearly four times the size of my property, nearly twice as high, it overlooks us, it is being protruded to the front of the hillside where it will dominate the whole valley and our property.

“It resembles a public house and not a home. It looks like Chatsworth House is going to be built above us.

“This is Biggin by Hulland, it is not Beverly Hills, why are we allowing buildings like this to fundamentally change and damage our countryside.”

During the meeting, William Hibbert, a member of the Biggin by Hulland Parish Meeting, said the current farmhouse was one of the oldest buildings in the area.

He said Barry Joyce, vice chairman of the Derbyshire Historic Building Trust, found the 18th century property “merits retention as a non-designated heritage asset”.

Mr Joyce said that the property has been standing for 250 years and that restoration is “perfectly feasible” and that its replacement would “destroy forever part of the local heritage”.

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Cllr Georgina Geraghty, member of Kirk Ireton Parish Council, told the meeting: “It is obtrusive by its design, scale and concerningly detrimental to the landscape, not being reflective of the character of the area as a whole.

“People don’t want our landscape to change that much that we don’t recognise it. This is more in keeping with a city or another country

“The enormity of the proposed dwelling is very alarming and is equivalent to eight averaged sized detached houses.”

Wendy Whitbread, who lives close to the site, told the meeting: “I am absolutely astounded that approval of this application has been recommended.