“Carole, you make my point for me. All those houses built on the borders of Mickleover BUT in South Derbyshire will now avail themselves of the Mickleover services but pay their council tax to Swadlincote. Next thing you know, John Port will refuse to take any more children from within the city boundary i.e. Mickleover. I think you should speak to your Mickleover Lib Dem councillors about this and get them to fight it for you.”

“Frank -
You are completely right. Social housing tenants and those with mortgages (otherwise known as private owners) should not be put together. What a pity the council sold off most of the social housing in the first place. This IS the kind of housing needed, not more flats/ apartments and luxury home.
As a council tenant, who pays rent, is debt free, well behaved, ( I could go on), I get sick to death with my private owner neighbours.They are selfish, ignorant people. They come home late,usually drunk. Their dogs bark anytime after 5.30am in the front garden. They park on corners and up paths. They regularly have a garden full of drunks having BBQs until 1-2am , in the summer , when some of us have to get up for work at 4am.
The otherside (Also private owners) have decided their dogs are "Outside dogs" and their garden is usually filled with half the neighbourhoods children. I won't tell you about those opposite but you must now get my drift.”

“Thank you for your observation Res.

Paul, as you reside in South Derbyshire this is of little concern to you.

As for 'not in my back yard' you show a level of ignorance about Mickleover.

We have a 24 hour Tesco and Petrol Station, Pubs, Schools and the Station Road rat-run used by thousands of non-residents to cut from the A38/A50 (Toyota) junction through to the A52 and A38 northbound @ Markeaton.

We have parking congestion beyond belief caused by the influx of workers to Derby City Royal Hospital, AND A POPULATION OF CIRCA 20,000 ALREADY!

I will stand up and be counted and defend my comments. email me at roselyn54@live.co.uk and I'll arrange to take you on a tour of Mickleover so you can comment from an informed perspective.

Incidentally, one thing about housing in Mickleover is that it is not generally 'affordable' -whether built in my back yard or not.”

“You are all missing the point here. The local district councils, e.g. South Derbyshire, Amber Valley will now build their houses on the fringes of Derby so that they impact on Derby's services but they will pay their council tax to the district authorities who will gain the benefit. This will preserve villages like Repton, Aston and Melbourne who would have had to take their share when the housing developments were being planned by central government. Places like Mickleover will therefore be more adversely affected than before.”

“Frank - without mobile phone masts there can't be mobile phones. Happy days!”

“Paul
I have nothing against new houses being built provided that thought goes into the planning and that the local infrastructure can support this. Communal carparks and flats and social housing mixed with private homes do not indicate good planning for it has been shown the social problems it brings in future years. The experiment of mixing social housing with privately owned homes is a failure.
As a family we have worked hard to buy a house in an area of our choice being Mickleover. It was not handed to us on a plate. And we started a family when it was financially prudent to do so.
Why the necessity to build more houses when this paper is overflowing with houses for sale? And stop with this not on my doorstep attitude riposte. By the way I gather that some mobile telephone company wish to erect a telephone mast outside your house. Good luck with the protest.”

“Frank / Carole - where would you suggest house are built in Derbyshire to ensure that homes for young families are available? Typical "not on my door step" attitude!”

“Thank goodnes.

I travel through Derbyshire quite a lot and Amber Valley Council, to quote one example, were planning, along with Miller Homes, to build another 'affordable housing' estate on Radbourne Lane, by the Water Tower.

Why? There's plenty of more appropriate land available for affordable housing in Amber Valley - or was it an arrangement between one council and another, Derby City, to provide affordable housing for the local hospital workers?

And regarding the Varsity eyesore, what an unfortunate choice of name. Just because part of the university campus once occupied the land, it implies some sort of 'university' occupation and by extension, responsibilty for what happens in the locality.

As a number of issues in this area are beginning to come to light, I hope it won't be STUDENTS who get the blame.”

“As a Mickleover resident I am pleased that common sense now prevails regarding the scrapping of plans for more new homes to be built in Mickleover. The Varsity site is a progressive new developement in Mickleover with all indicators showing that this area is going to be the 'slum' of the future. This is a development of mixed houses in progress and look at the number of on street car parking already existing clogging up this area. There is good reason for this. Firstly most houses only have car parking for one car and then secondly too many communal car parks are being built. These communal car parks are a recipe for disaster especially from the criminal perspective and future maintenance. How this got through planning is beyond me. And then there is the social housing with this development seemingly awash with social houses. Another recipe for disaster in the future if wrong persons with a lack of social etiquette are housed in them. So no more housing developement in Mickleover for the forseeable future is indeed welcome news.”