16 July 2026
This development is overall not in keeping with the centre of Buxton. The buildings are too tall and loom. I assume to sell more flats. The suggested elevations look dreary and not in keeping with the beautiful listed buildings in Buxton. The development includes shops, why do we need more shops when already has plenty of unused shops and shops of limited value: charity shops, vape shops etc? In the last few days, Lomas Foods which has been on Spring Gardens for 35 years is going into administration. It partly blames reduced footfall. What keeps the town alive for occasional shopping is good parking compared to most towns. Waitrose has a large amount of elderly customers and they can pop in as there are plenty of blue badge spaces nearby. The proposed underground car park is not near Waitrose. The biggest problem is the car parking. There are currently 420 car park spaces. In 4 years, I been unable to park there ONCE. The proposed underground car park only has 300 spaces and 110 are available for the residents of 320 flats. Assuming that the owners of 320 flats only use their allocated spaces, there are 190 spaces left, car park spaces have been more than halved. Between 9am to 12am and 3pm to 6pm, car parking is free for High Peak residents. I am doubtful that such a scheme will continue. There is no point suggesting folk us public transport. I live 2 miles out in Harpur Hill. I could go by bus, but my route stops its service at 6pm. Belatedly, there is some suggestion of extra car park spaces becoming available near the station, but there is no planning permission, so it may never happen. This is some distance from the town centre and what seems reasonable now, seems less so if you are elderly or if you are negotiating driving rain in November. The proposal seems an over development, motivated by profit, which will reduce footfall, weaken existing shopping facilities.