Plans to build up to 70 homes on land between the A34 and Trent and Mersey Canal at the northern edge of Stone have now been formally submitted to Stafford Borough Council.
St Philips Land Ltd is seeking outline planning permission for the development on land east of Stone Road at The Fillybrooks, with half of the proposed homes classed as affordable housing.
The application, reference 26/42053/OUT, also includes public open space, a children’s play area, landscaping and drainage features.
Only access is being considered in detail at this stage. The layout shown in the application documents is illustrative, with matters including the final appearance, layout, scale and landscaping to be decided through a later reserved matters application if outline permission is granted.
ALBOS first reported on the proposals in October 2025, when St Philips launched a pre application consultation with residents before submitting its plans.
Access from the A34
Vehicle access would be created directly from the southbound carriageway of the A34 Stone Road through a new left in, left out junction.
Separate pedestrian connections are proposed to the existing footways along the A34 and to the Trent and Mersey Canal towpath at both the northern and southern ends of the site.
The transport assessment submitted with the application tested the impact of 75 homes, rather than the 70 being applied for, to provide what its authors describe as a robust assessment.
That modelling predicts up to 39 two way vehicle movements during the morning peak and 40 during the evening peak.
The assessment considered the proposed site access, the A34 and Meaford Road roundabout, and the double roundabout at Stone Road, Whitebridge Lane and Newcastle Road. It concludes that the development would have a negligible impact on overall junction capacity.
Those findings will now be considered by Staffordshire County Council as highways authority as part of the planning process.
Affordable homes and open space
The application proposes 35 market homes and 35 affordable homes, although the eventual sizes and tenure of those affordable properties have not yet been fixed.
The applicant says 1.22 hectares of the 3.27 hectare site would be given over to green space and drainage.
Plans show parkland with a children’s play area towards the northern end of the development, a village green, landscaped buffers alongside the A34 and canal, and a wetland area around the proposed drainage basin.
Parking numbers and the detailed housing mix would also be settled at the reserved matters stage.
Green Belt and Stafford’s housing shortage
The land is currently designated as Green Belt.
St Philips argues in its planning statement that the site should be considered “grey belt” under national planning policy and that housing development can therefore be supported when assessed alongside Stafford Borough’s shortage of housing land.
That shortage has become more pronounced since the developer first consulted on the scheme.
Stafford Borough Council’s latest assessment, dated 31 March 2026, says the borough currently has just 1.95 years of deliverable housing land against its five year requirement. It identifies 1,781 deliverable homes against an annualised requirement of 912 dwellings.
Whether this particular site meets the policy tests for development in the Green Belt will be one of the issues for planning officers and, potentially, councillors to consider.
What residents said during the earlier consultation
The developer’s own consultation ran for two weeks in October 2025, with 108 leaflets sent to nearby homes and businesses.
It received 66 responses.
The most commonly raised issue was pressure on local facilities and services, mentioned in 41 responses. Traffic and highway infrastructure were raised in 36, wildlife and ecology in 20, and the impact on the Green Belt in 14.
Concerns were also raised about green space, flooding and drainage, trees and hedgerows, noise and the proposed access.
In response, St Philips says contributions towards services such as education, health and transport could form part of a Section 106 agreement if permission is granted.
Trees, wildlife and drainage
An arboricultural assessment identifies 33 tree, woodland and hedgerow features within influencing distance of the site.
The illustrative development could require the removal or partial removal of seven lower quality Category C features and four Category B features. One further tree is recommended for removal because of its condition.
The report says most of the proposed losses are connected with creating the new A34 access. It also says changes at the detailed design stage could potentially allow two of the trees currently shown for removal to be retained.
The biodiversity assessment calculates that the scheme could provide a 10.15 per cent increase in area habitat biodiversity units, alongside larger gains for hedgerows and watercourse habitats.
The site is within Flood Zone 1, although the flood assessment identifies a lower area towards the south with a greater risk from surface water. Housing would be kept away from that area, with surface water directed through swales and other drainage measures to an infiltration basin.
What happens next
Stafford Borough Council will now consider the application alongside responses from statutory consultees and comments submitted by residents and other interested parties.
The neighbour consultation period is due to run until Friday 28 August 2026.
Anyone wanting to comment on the proposals can find the application through Stafford Borough Council’s Planning Public Access system using reference 26/42053/OUT.
The full plans and supporting documents are also available through the application record.
Stafford Borough Council Planning Public Access
For background, our original October 2025 article explains the proposals presented during the developer’s earlier consultation.
Read our original report on the Land North of Stone proposals
1 comment
Jacqueline Nelson
These fields support wildlife, half the residents in Stone have walked them for over 20 years.
Do you have to destroy everything.
You leave nothing to enjoy, you take everything from everyone