Local residents are holding a meeting on Wednesday 1st April on the number of new housing developments in Walton.
The meeting will be held on the lounge of The Lamb pub at 7.30pm and has been organised by Phil Ruscoe and Jim Hanvey.
David Wilson Homes has submitted a planning application to Stafford Borough Council for a proposed residential development of 114 new homes on land next to Common Lane on Walton Heath, with access location at the end of Marlborough Road. This will add to the 500 new homes next to Longhope Drive, plus the planned 84 Taylor Wimpey new homes on the Eccleshall Road opposite to the Longhope Drive development. There’s also the Taylor Wimpey development of 215 new homes on Tilling Drive.
Phil said: “All of this means almost 1,000 new houses for Walton, without the infrastructure to support the additional population. A rough estimate of two cars per household will mean a huge increase in vehicle movements adding to already congested Walton roads and the A34. Marlborough Road, considered a ‘minor distribution road’, will become extremely busy. Traffic taking short cuts through the estate will substantially increase the levels of noise and disturbance to residents, compared to what is now a relatively quiet and pleasant estate to live on. By attending the meeting you will be able to voice your concerns regarding problems the development will bring.”
The full planning application for the David Wilson Homes development is HERE – where you can also lodge your comments.
Related Posts:
6 comments
colin beardmore
if this development is within the local plan approved by the town councillors, can any objection /observations be seriously considered by the Planning authorities.
Approval for building schemes such as this has been tilted in favour of developers by the new national building guidelines introduced last year as an initiative to encourage more building not only on brown field sites but on other areas that had some degree of protection by designation as white areas, fields, landscaped areas etc. Not only this but some development costs for infastruture imorovements for the work could now be passed to the local authorities
Will this tilt in favour of more development approvals be at a cost to local communities not on increased traffic and deterioration of local services etc. Will local opinions count for anything?
colin beardmore
Another proposed development is being considered our planners is at the other end of stone, this is for 85 houses near to the Aston Lodge Park estate. This 40 year old estate has been blighted by a railway crossing which is the only access to the main road. Needless to say nobody accept the landowner and the developer supports the proposal but I have little doubt that it will be approved. who knows what is said behind closed doors
Objections to the schemes such as these at Walton will be met by replies , that they meet the local plan approved by your councillors and the planning rules have now been changed by the government to favour developers
Sadly local opinion seems to play little part in whether a scheme gets the approval. With regards to concerns over any infrastructure improvements deemed necessary. under the old planning rules the cost of these had to be paid for by the developer under new rules it seems that will now be met some other way eg from the highways budget perhaps.
The new national open door policy to building development have implications extending beyond what is now being seen locally. Have our councillors been asleep ? all green field areas, landscaped areas ammenitity areas previously seen as protected are now open to development under the new national building initiative. objections such as road congestion will be met by traffic calming , traffic lights road signs etc
Probably Bill Cash is aware of development problems such as these in the town where he lives.
Have the new national Planning Guidelines have gone too far. Perhaps our councillors were wrong in their approval of the local plan.
Stone Bloke
It is not only about schools and doctors. What about Fire Service cover that is currently looking at being reduced by closing Stone and Eccleshall Fire Stations, with cover being provided by a reduced service from Stafford.
What about power supply issues, will the supply be upgraded or will the local area suffer from brownouts as was the case when Aston Lodge was being built.
Can the local sewerage provision cope with all the extra demand that will be placed on it.
Peter Calvert
Although traffic gets mentioned re developments and Stone certainly needs a more coherent approach to traffic management and parking, services generally don’t. It can now take 2 weeks to get an appointment with a named doctor at one surgery and this can only get worse. I wonder if Stafford BC as Planning Authority has any data on how much net gain these developments add to Stone’s population
Dianne saunders
Good point it’s not just traffic volume .. Can the schools cope we have only one high school and the GP practices struggle to meet patient demand .
Jamie Summerfield
Hi Peter. You make a really good point. We’re doing some digging on this issue