A field between the Meaford roundabout and the Darlaston Roundabout has been earmarked as the location of a new electric charging hub, with picnic areas and drive-through restaurant.
Planning application – 24/39125/FUL | Creation of an Electric Vehicle Charging Hub comprising 31 charging bays equipped with solar panels and a substation (Sui Generis), picnic areas and a drive-through restaurant (Use Class E), with associated access, car and cycle parking, and landscaping. | Field Adjacent A34 Northbound
The service station is set to be located in the greenbelt only one mile away from Stone, however is not in the Meaford Conservation Area. The applicant has argued that there are special circumstances for developing the greenbelt.
If approved by councillors at Stafford Borough Council the development would create 50 full and part time jobs. In addition there would be a 57.55 per cent biodiversity net gain in habitat units.
The planning statement reads:
“The application site is located on the A34, which is a trunk road connecting major cities in the UK, with an identified need for additional local transport infrastructure to support the needs of motorists. In light of this, this proposal seeks to provide a new local transport infrastructure offering 16 EV charging points and a drive-through restaurant and picnic area, with sufficient outdoor sitting area and parking spaces for motorists to meet all their needs during their journey.
“By virtue of the sequential assessment concluding that there are no sequentially preferable sites within nearby town or local centres, it is confirmed that the proposal constitutes appropriate development in the Green Belt. The Sequential Assessment has been undertaken in light of the proposed main town centre use, a drive-through restaurant. The Assessment covered the Stone Town Centre and Walton Local Centre, concluding that there are no sequentially preference sites meeting the criteria for a charging hub.
“Thereby, the proposal satisfies the sequential approach in accordance with the requirements set out in the NPPF and the Local Plan The proposed site is located outside of the Meaford Conservation Area, being separated by the A34. Careful design of the proposed site layout ensures that the setting of the Conservation Area will not be affected by the proposed development.”
Whilst the plans do mention the nearby location, no reference is made to the newly proposed service station, for which planning permission has already been granted, at the former Darlaston Inn site.
You can have your say on the application in the comment tab on the Stafford Borough Council website – 24/39125/FUL
16 comments
Marjorie Thorley
Our towns are becoming sad, empty and lonely places. Where are the shops? Not on the High Street but on out-of-town land. And do we really need more drive-throughs? More charging points? Or do we want to re-establish busy, friendly town centre shopping centres? I know which I prefer! When I moved to Stone over 27 years ago, I lived in the town centre and loved the great range of shops we had…and now it’s just for sale and to let signs. Even our charity shops are closing. Please, please, please, leave all our green areas untouched and focus on building up a wonderful town centre again. I say no to drive-throughs and certainly no to using greenfield sites when we have a half-empty town.
RICHARD
MORE RUBBISH ON THE ROADS 24HRS SERVICE PEOPLE WHO THINK ITS A GOOD IDEA OBVIOUSLY DON’T LIVE IN THE AREA ITS JUST STUPID
C sweet
Not needed here There is already a Starbucks , plus plans for similar at site of Darlaston iroundabout Once they build in Green Belt it will open the door for other developments
Craig Curley
This is totally not needed in our area. We moved to Stone for the town life and local shops/ eateries, a bonus was the lack of fast food outlets. Now we just have to wait for the litter to start to spread, it will go from Darlaston to Stone Town and even Eccleshall.
J Swindells
This will result in the loss of habitat units not gain. There will be a significant traffic bottle neck with the development of the old Darlaston Inn site which will be made worse by this development only a couple of hundred yards away.
This part of the busy A34 will turn into an ugly convenience food “Strip” with Starbucks, this proposed development and the new Darlaston Inn development. Is this the image that Stone and surrounds wants to project
The Darlaston Inn site is surely big enough to house this proposal as well as the current Darlaston Inn plan.
Stuart smith
Do they not realise that EVs are being sold at half price because nobody wants them.
Flood meadow and electricity don’t mix.
AB
Oh dear,
Another meadow on the Trent river lost and more drainage pressure placed on an area which has always had issues with flooding. Yet again a little bit of Stone and Meaford’s rural character is in line to be ‘sympathetically’ whittled away.
I’d like to think Stafford Borough Council could understand the necessity of leaving some riverside land undeveloped, but if ‘special circumstances‘ mean it’s not protected by Green Belt (the definition of which seems as flexible as any prescribed area), it appears the renumeration of development might outweigh anything else.
Taking into account what has happened on the industrial estate alongside the A34 south of Stone with its Land Rover-Jaguar car park and enormous three storey ‘hub’ (which remains unoccupied), it is evident that the council are trying to encourage business enterprise along the route, but not always with an eye to blending it in with the surrounding landscapes. The erosion of Stone’s countryside aspect is already well underway.
Obviously, development is a necessity. As other comments have pointed out, work on the Darlaston roundabout petrol and charging station has already started on what appears to be a practical and useful redevelopment of the site. But surely, to use any low emissions policy and a drive for further EV charging points as an excuse for building another fast-food drive-through on an area of Green Belt, is laughable. There is land on the opposite side of the A34 just off the roundabout leading to the Meaford Road which is available for business enterprise, couldn’t that be used instead?
It is up to the people of Stone and Meaford to be motivated and express any concerns about this latest incursion. Will the landscaping around the project provide for the wildlife that is going to be disturbed? How much riverside habitat will be destroyed? Will the increase in run-off from the asphalted surfaces be addressed sufficiently to avoid flooding further down the river? Will there be safety measures in place to ensure the river will not be prone to increased pollutants? Could an alternate site be found which does not compromise the Green Belt (across on the other side of the A34 or even on the Meaford Enterprise Park?)
All to often, these developments only come to the townspeople’s attention after the planning has been approved and the destruction has begun.
Vivian Fox
The application that has already been passed-does it include the same number of EV charging points? If so then perhaps this is not needed but people travelling need somewhere to charge their. vehicles and they take longer than a fillup of petrol or diesel. If the govt wants EVs onthe roads eventually we have to have charging points
Richard
Great idea creating 50 jobs also environmentally friendly development and a nice area to stop off and have a picnic . We need a lot more charging points and will be a nice place to stop and charge. Fully support this investment in Stone.
Karen
Who would want to have a picnic next to a very busy road
Drive through restaurant I take it they mean fast food outlet
Our high streets need to be upgraded not here
Biv
When are the Government and local authorities going to wake up to themselves? They are totally ruining our once lovely island . They should be encouraging regeneration in the “now dead” town centres” and also what is left of our remaining Green Belt. I cannot understand what is going on – this is so wrong. The so called “Planners” seem complicit in this gradual erosion and destruction and the once “Great” Britain will no longer be so – we will live in a concrete jungle and world of fast food. The Government are so “two faced” and are unfit for purpose. They are certainly not not representative of the majority – this smacks of “self interest”. How on earth are we going to get out of this mess?
Claire
The site at where the Darlaston Inn was, is perfect for a drive through restaurant…if more fast food has been deemed crucial . It seems to tick all the boxes such a site would require.
But that field is green belt for a reason. Is the Starbucks not enough? We want to bring trade into our town. Not turn it into another rural doughnut with nothing on the inside and junk on the outside.
Gary
Ridiculous,more green land gone.
Why not build it on existing land .
Pure greed.
RICHARD
Stone Town needs people to use the high St it will take more money out of the town all DEVELOPERS IS MONDAY DON’T CARE ABOUT PEOPLE IN MEAFORD
RICHARD
Don’t need that anywhere near us in Meaford
Phil cape
There’s a really big site (of old darlaston pub) that has just had approval for what sounds like the same thing. Can both developments not occupy the same site to prevent fields being lost? This application also reads like is for a McDonald’s/similar. There has just been a Starbucks opened nearby, won’t this take more trade out of the town centre?