Oakwood, Derbyshire

infobox UK place

country = England
latitude= 52.933
longitude= -1.416
map_type= Derbyshire
official_name= Oakwood
population = 13,450
shire_county = Derbyshire
region= East Midlands

constituency_westminster= Mid Derbyshire
post_town= DERBY
postcode_district = DE21
postcode_area= DE
dial_code= 01332
os_grid_reference = SK381383

Oakwood is a modern housing estate in Derby, UK, built mainly in the 1980s and 1990s.

It is one of the largest new housing estates in Europe and, as such, is a major settlement in its own right. It is situated on the outskirts of the city, bordering the suburb of Chaddesden, which is one of the largest council housing estates in England. Oakwood is built on land which used to be known as Chaddesden Common, It has three clusters of shops, the largest of which has all the amenities of a large village. The last new houses to be built in Oakwood were completed towards the end of 2001.

The original oak wood, from which the area is named, has been preserved as Chaddesden Wood Nature Reserve, and is maintained by the council. It is the only ancient oak woodland in the city of Derby. In 1991, it was declared a local nature reserve. The wood contains a nature trail open to the public, roughly one kilometre long. This is a popular resource for the people of North Derby and in Spring the wood is covered by a carpet of bluebells as can be seen in the photograph on this page.

There is also a sizeable park surrounding a modern community centre, as well as many smaller areas, or "green wedges" that have been designed to provide routes throughout the estate for use by walkers and wildlife.

A leisure centre, a school and a football academy are also situated within Oakwood. The leisure centre was first planned by a private businessman before being taken over and completed by the council. In 2008 the leisure centre was expanded to include a much enlarged gym and a library will be included soon. The school promised from early on in the development of Oakwood is a primary school (ages 3-11) that caters for some of the children living within the local community (although it is far too small to cater for all of them). The football academy at Moor Farm is owned by Derby County Football Club who moved to the premises from their old training ground, the RamArena, at Raynesway.

There are still remains of an old small railway line on the green area at the roundabout of Oakwood Drive and Bishops Drive. This small railway was privately owned and is thought to have stretched south down to the old Chaddesden village and as far north as the old mainline just north of the suburb.