The Parish Council are strongly opposed to this application as it is outside the planned boundary for local development and will further add to the burden on overstretched local infrastructure. We have “green carded” the application which means that it will have to be discussed at Telford & Wrekin’s Planning Committee meeting.
The full details given for the objection are detailed below:
- The Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment 2012 (SHLAA). The SHLAA 2012 Lawley site map clearly indicates that this particular field is not even considered within the scoping project.
- The Wrekin Local Plan, which is valid up to 2016 indicates that the built up area for Telford & Newport is delineated to the East of this land and therefore ‘The rural area is defined as all land outside of the built up areas of Telford and Newport’ this includes this field as it is to the West of the demarcation. Relevant policies in the Telford and Wrekin Core Strategy 2007 say: ‘Rural Area: Development within the rural area will be limited to that necessary to meet the needs of the area. It will be focussed on the settlements of High Ercall, Tibberton and Waters Upton. Outside of these settlements development will be limited and within the open countryside will be strictly controlled.’
- Policy CS11 Open Space seeks to protect and enhance formal and informal areas of open space and Policy CS12 Natural Environment states that the natural environment will be protected and enhanced. The proposed development will contradict these 2 polices if granted. Open Space: Within the context of the development needs of the Borough, this policy seeks to protect and enhance areas of open space, both formal and informal. Development on open space will only be permitted if it can be demonstrated that: There will be significant community and environmental benefits delivered by the proposal and clearly this does not apply to these proposals.
- The Local Green Infrastructure Needs Study – June 2013 clearly indicates in appendix 1 that the proposed site is designated agricultural land. For many years this field was in regular agricultural use with a variety of crops being grown and sustained a variety of wildlife. Development will render this principal asunder and set a precedent that if passed, more potential development projects could be realized for other nearby sites on the same side of Dawley Road.
- Previous applications within the “rural area” locality such as TWC/2015/0342 were refused on grounds that ‘The site lies in countryside outside the built up area of Telford, as defined on the Wrekin Local Plan Proposals Map, where new development is to be controlled’. As such this application as it falls within the area should adhere to the same principal and be refused
- Telford & Wrekin Five Year Housing Land Supply Statement 2014-2019 published 20th March 2015. Appendix 1 is a Schedule of sites with planning permission at April 2014. Of the 4,709 total deliverable supply, 2014-19, 1,009 are allocated to the Lawley area, this provides over 21% of the total required for the period with a remainder provision of 1499 already allocated for the period after 2019. In comparison the next largest contributor to the deliverable supply is the Lightmoor area with 471 (10% of the total required) and a remainder of 291 after 2019. So Lawley is by far the biggest contributor to the deliverable supply until 2019 and possibly beyond.
- The proposed density of housing per hectare on this site is significantly higher than similar developments in the area and of the area designated H17 in the emerging Local Plan. It is more than double the density of the area designated as H16 in the emerging local plan.
- Local infrastructure is already struggling to cope with the existing planned development, which is less than 40% completed. There is a long wait for appointments at the medical centre, the dentist is not taking new patients and local school children who live within metres of the existing schools are having to travel to schools across Telford as the local Primary schools are already full. In their Access Statement the Developers refer to 2 Secondary Schools being accessible, however Thomas Telford is selective and open to pupils from across Telford who pass the entrance exam; and Ercall Wood can only be travelled to by a car journey of at least 20 minutes at peak times or by a 55 minute bus journey via Telford Town Centre. The Developers Access Statement also states that the site would be served by local buses, however there is no public transport along the Dawley Road. ARRIVA withdrew the 2 bus services referred to in their statement more than a year ago.
- Dawley Road is a very busy route which is used by thousands of Telford motorists to travel to Wellington as an alternative to using the M54. Traffic monitoring data collected by both Telford & Wrekin Council Highways Team and local residents over the last 2 years indicates that the average speed is consistently well above the 30mph limit on the stretch by the proposed development. There are no details of proposed access routes to this site however we have major safety concerns over the number of vehicles associated with an additional 110 dwellings both accessing the road and adding to the already heavy use of this road.