Old Tupton residents are lobbying North East Derbyshire District Council to rethink the location of a parcel locker placed on a busy roadside, which they say is causing traffic chaos.
The InPost locker unit was installed on Ankerbold Road in March with no prior notice and neighbours say there has been a catalogue of problems and near-misses ever since, from vehicles stopping to pick up or drop off parcels.
Jeff Fagan, who lives opposite, said: “The most serious concern is safety, and it will get worse once it starts getting dark in the winter and more parcels come at Christmas. The locker is in use 24-7 and we get people pulling up on the curb or into our driveways, turning in the road, blocking traffic, obstructing the pavement.
“One neighbour was mowing their lawn and near enough got knocked over by someone reversing into their front garden. Another neighbour was leaving to take her children to school and nearly had a head-on crash with the delivery van as it pulled out in front of her on the wrong side of the road. It’s an accident waiting to happen.
“This a busy road, especially in term time with Tupton Hall School around the corner. There are five businesses here and none of them have off-road customer parking. Now it’s basically become a one-track road.”
Jeff said: “There’s only pavement on one side in some places and when it’s blocked, people are forced to walk in the road with their children and dogs – mobility scooters too and they can’t get off the road again because there are no dropped curbs further down.
“It’s causing congestion as well. It’s become a regular thing to see the bin truck coming down here and having to wait for people to move their cars, or because they’ve left their doors open into the road.”
He added: “The other point is the disturbance to residents. We’ve got cars coming all day and night, playing music, slamming doors. People have had to reset their doorbell cameras, CCTV, security lights because they’re continually setting off, waking people people up and night and upsetting pets.”
After raising their concerns with the district council, residents were initially told that no planning permission was required for the locker, which sits on private land at the entrance to a landscaping supplies showroom – which also depends on regular heavy goods deliveries.
But once local councillors began applying pressure, InPost submitted more than 20 retrospective planning applications for sites in North East Derbyshire between May and July.
When the Derbyshire Times asked InPost to explain its position on the Ankerbold Road case, and the criteria used to select appropriate locker sites, representatives said only: “Unfortunately, this isn't information we’re able to disclose.”
Jeff’s wife Tracy, who presented the facts to the planning committee’s meeting in July, said: “There are eight InPost boxes within 1.5 miles of us – the closest is 0.3 miles – and another 12 in a three-mile radius, plus three drop-off shops. None of the other boxes are positioned in a residential area.
“Most of them are positioned in large car parks for supermarkets or hotels. They have large, safe parking areas, they are well illuminated and have CCTV cameras and barriers, protecting the public.
“How would anybody feel if one morning one of these in post boxes arrived outside their homes without planning permission, or consideration to neighbours?”
Planning officers initially recommended approving the application, but councillors have decided to delay the decision until later this year.
A spokesperson for NEDDC said: “The application was deferred by the planning committee to allow for a traffic impact assessment – discussions around that are ongoing.
“Retrospective planning applications, such as for parcel lockers, are assessed in the same way as standard applications, with the risk of refusal requiring reversal of works.
“Each application is judged on its own merits under national and local planning policy, and while most are decided by officers under delegated powers, elected members may ‘call in’ cases for committee determination.
“There is no specific policy for locker infrastructure, but where harm to local character, amenity or highway safety is identified, the council can act to ensure development is appropriately located.”
While the district council has acknowledged the potential risk to road safety, the relevant highways authority is Derbyshire County Council.
In its official response to the Ankerbold Road application, DCC raised no objection, saying officers had “undertaken a full assessment” and found the “proposed location of the InPost locker will not interfere with the access to the [business] unit and does not interfere with the adjacent footway.”
Asked to explain that conclusion by the Derbyshire Times, and whether officers might revise their position based on the district’s request for traffic impact assessment, a DCC representative said the only officer familiar with details of the case was currently unavailable for comment.
The details of many planning applications can be found in public notices advertised by local and regional newspapers. To catch up on all the latest public notices, go to publicnoticeportal.uk.