Plans to build more than 800 new homes in Stone over the next two decades have met with concern from community leaders that the town’s infrastructure cannot cope with the extra residents.
More than 10,000 new homes are earmarked for Stafford Borough between 2020 and 2040 as part of the latest Local Plan.
Stafford Borough Council is currently seeking views on its preferred options, and the consultation runs until December 12. The document includes proposals for around 7,385 new homes in Stafford and a further 3,000 at Meecebrook, a new “garden community” earmarked for land near Stone and Eccleshall.
The proposals for Stone have met with strong feelings in the town however. The borough council is aiming for around 881 new homes to be built in the town, with potential development sites including land at Marlborough Road in Walton (101 homes), land east of Oakleigh Court (131 homes), land at Uttoxeter Road (97) and land at Trent Road (20 homes).
The preferred options document stated:
“Stone town centre will support Stafford Borough over the plan period as a key market town. All new development proposals within Stone town centre should enhance the appeal of the centre and encourage longer visits.
“Stone is an important market town and second principal town and main provider of services, facilities, employment and transport links. Reflecting its role as the second settlement of the settlement hierarchy, the strategy for Stone town will seek to enhance its role by increasing both the range and quality of services and facilities, with all development within the town contributing towards meeting the borough’s growth and development needs.”
Approval has already been granted for hundreds of new homes in Walton in recent years. And a consultation on a previous Local Plan for the borough, when 500 homes were earmarked for the edge of Stone, met with comments from residents that “Walton is full” in 2011.
Stone Town Council has detailed its concerns about the plans in a response to the borough council, which was approved at a meeting on Tuesday. The response stated:
“Stone does not have the necessary infrastructure – doctors, dentists, schools and other vital services – to support the proposed new housing allocation.
“The proposed development in Walton should be resisted because Walton has already seen very significant expansion over the last few years and this new addition would amount to over-intensive development. Access to the works traffic would necessarily be through the existing housing estates, leading to damage to residents’ amenity.
“The proposed developments on Uttoxeter Road and east of Oakleigh Court would exacerbate the existing delays caused by the railway level crossing on Uttoxeter Road and commuter traffic would inevitably be queuing at peak times. In addition, the mitigation measures required by Network Rail are considerable.
“A current application for up to 130 new homes on Oulton Road should, if passed, be allocated as a SDL (strategic development location). And the numbers should therefore be included in the overall requirement for Stone, removing need for at least one of the three larger proposed locations.”
Councillor Jill Hood said:
“As a councillor on three authorities, the biggest and most frequent question to me is ‘when are we going to improve our infrastructure?’ With doctors and dentists we don’t have the capacity to serve the public.
“I would like to see a promise of infrastructure. It’s reaching almost unbearable proportions where people can’t get into doctors or dentists.
“Around the Marlborough Road area we have a middle school, two first schools and two nurseries. Pirehill Lane is earmarked as a haul road for HS2 traffic when the railhead is built and the construction will be something we have never seen the likes of.”
Councillor Ken Argyle said:
“Walton has carried the brunt of development for the past 12 years. The 600 houses stated to have been built in Walton I would question – I would say it is closer to 1,000.
“The land we are talking about at the top of Marlborough Road is agricultural land. It has been farmed for generations.”
Town councillors have also questioned why the plan must include provision of new homes to help meet the needs of other local authorities in the West Midlands region. Councillor Jim Davies said:
“I have sympathy for the Black Country but we have a large chunk of South Staffordshire between us and them – what’s it got to do with them?”
The town council’s response added:
“The ready acceptance of the desire of Black Country authorities to demand extra housing within Stafford Borough under the ‘duty to co-operate’ has significant implications and should be carefully reviewed. A reduction of only 10% in requested numbers would allow removal of two of the principal proposed developments in Stone.”
Stafford Borough Council stated on its website:
“By law the council must pro-actively engage with neighbouring areas on strategic issues including their unmet needs. To ensure the Local Plan can move forward and economic growth continues to occur in Stafford Borough, the housing figure of 10,700 new homes to be delivered over the Plan period includes the provision of 2,000 new homes to meet unmet needs from neighbouring areas.
“This is why the annual figure for housing delivery has increased from 500 new homes per year in the current adopted Plan for Stafford Borough 2011-2031, to 535 new homes per year in the Local Plan 2020-2040 Preferred Options. All councils have to meet a legal test known as the ‘Duty to Cooperate’.
“This means we have to engage ‘constructively, actively and an ongoing basis’ with our neighbouring authorities over matters which cut across administrative boundaries. The matters include meeting unmet housing and employment needs and the Cannock Chase Special Area of Conservation, issues which do not always adhere to local authority boundaries.”
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2 comments
Ian Moyse
Whist new homes attract people to the area, they also detract from what Stone and local community is.
Ripping the heart out of the community, which just leaves an empty town, which is no longer good for business and no longer enjoyed.
Far better for Stone to have visitors that enjoy the beauty, charm and all that it has to give. Rather than to loose it.
Unfortunately, short term financial gains are often over look the long term benefits. Spoiling what is essentially the essence of what Stone and the local area has to give.
Don’t let Stone become a ghost town, like so many up and the country that have been ruined by financial greed.
JoH
Could not agree with you more John. We live on the smaller development off the Eccleshall Road. We have HS2 further up from us which is mad enough but then losing more local green fields and trees at the top of Marlborough Road, meaning construction traffic and building noise impacting on residents, let alone the impact on traffic coming up and down Pirehill Lane where we have a Middle School and Primary School AND they are also proposing Pirehill Lane for HS2 site traffic also? We will move out if this is the case as the roads will become gridlocked.
Services for the local residents are already at full capacity (doctors and dentists) and I haven’t bothered swapping over to a Stone doctor as I know there’s no chance of being seen for at least 2 weeks, if not longer…
And don’t get me started on the impact this will have on local wildlife. As if this hasn’t been badly disrupted enough, with the ridiculous amount of homes being built at Udall Grange and now HS2 tearing up the green fields and trees.