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Outrage at homes proposal
Wednesday 8th October 2008, 11:50AM BST.
The leader of Telford & Wrekin Council today responded with outrage at the news the borough might be forced to accommodate an extra 10,000 homes.
Councillor Andrew Eade said the influx of extra people would swamp schools, roads and other infrastructure. He pledged to fight the proposal all the way.
His comments follow a consultants’ report on how to meet the demand for homes in the West Midlands.
Telford has already been earmarked for 26,500 homes, but the consultants are suggesting up to 10,000 extra on top of that figure.
Three options are on the table for Telford by 2026 – leaving the 26,500 as it is or increasing it to 31,500 or 36,500.
Councillor Eade said: “We will fight any option which forces us to increase the level of new housing in the borough. An extra 10,000 new homes is the same as building another community the size of Wellington.
“Such a drastic increase would leave our infrastructure swamped.”
The comments came after the release of the independent study by planning consultants Nathaniel Lichfield and Partners yesterday.It suggested the authority’s area could cope with anything between zero and 10,000 new homes on top of 26,500 already earmarked for the borough depending on three scenarios.
The study will be used as evidence for a public examination by an independent panel of the Regional Spatial Strategy (RSS) for the West Midlands next spring.
At present the RSS’s preferred option states that 52,200 homes be built in the county up until 2026 – more than half of which would be built in the Telford & Wrekin area.
The latest independent study, carried out for the Government Office for the West Midlands, says although the RSS allocates Telford “significantly more” housing than envisaged, “there is underlying potential for additional development both within the settlement boundary and on land owned by English Partnerships”.
But Telford & Wrekin Council leader Andrew Eade said: “I am determined that we will do all we possibly can to prevent any increase over the 26,500 new homes that we had already reluctantly agreed to for the borough.”
He added: “Such increases would not only encroach on the level of open space in the borough but also has very serious implications for the supporting infrastructure and services in the borough.”
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Well, that’s strange. Are we talking about Andrew Eade, board member of the taxpayer-funded “Transforming Telford Ltd”, the company which has as one of its stated aims, “to be instrumental in the development of a City Region” and as another, “bringing forward high technology developments in the Wolverhampton Telford Technology Corridor”? City = houses, Mr. Eade; if you want to create a City Region, then of course, you’ll need people to live there, so you’ll need thousands more houses to accommodate them. That’s mainly what a “city” is – lots of people living in lots of houses. Whatever made you think that 26500 houses would create a “City”? That’s merely the start; watch this space – there are simply too many “funding incentives” at stake here for consultants and taxpayer-subsidised organisations to even consider “fighting the proposals to the end”.
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Oh no…….. this will mean contending with more pushchairs steered by tracksuit and cheap jewellery adorned single mothers in the town centre.
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Yes, Telford will be the UK’s major “Chav” city if 10k homes are built. Will there be enough jobs or will they be on social benefits?
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I suspect Mr I Formby ( real name ? ) has never visited Telford
but in fact forms his opinions from tabloid cliches and ugly prejudice.
I know some of these “chavs” he refers to and they are decent people.
What’s wrong with them getting the odd hand-out from the government.
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Whilst Telford could probably absorb the additional houses it would need an altogether better informed and forward thinking Planning team to create a road network that would enhance, not impede traffic movement,perhaps a look at successful towns and cities to see just how they are structured. More green spaces and play areas additional leisure facilities will be required and perhaps with this report in mind its time to reconsider building on the town park.Successful urban areas are generally those that have evolved over decades and even centuries,building housing and shops and placing industrial complex where they are most needed.
Planners seem to have little real vision for creating an environment that they themselves would want to live in
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hoodie: I would just like to set the record straight that I don’t wear a track suit in the Town Centre in case anyone was wondering.
Dear Mr Eade,
Why dont you build some houses in the rural areas to boost the rural environment? I have some fields that I would sell for building. We have the infrastructure and more houses will help keep our post office and pub open.
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Lucy W – You must be looking in the wrong places then – I see plenty of people wearing hoodies in Telford town cntre.
By all means make more houses in telford BUT as in the 70′s people should be means tested before they are allowed to move to telford.
They must meet the following criteria.
1) Be in a job in Telford
2) Earn over 25K per year
If you don’t meet those 2 criteria you are not allowed to move to telford – simple as.
I also feel that the long term unemployed should be relocated to Birmingham or Wolverhampton from Telford as those 2 cities have a better support system for the long term unemployed.
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Its not just the road network that would need improving. I’d like to think that through the Community Infrastructure Levy all sorts of improvements could be made. New schools, GP surgeries, water treatment works, rail links maybe even some kind of rapid transport like trams. Telford probably could take these houses with significant upgrades to some infrastructure, remember most of it was planned for a popultation almost 100,000 higher than it currently is.
Of course alternatively we could concrete over the rest of Shropshire instead of focusing it on the largest town in the county
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simple, don’t build any more houses and they won’t stay long. they’ll soon move on when there is nowhere to live.
( oooh betty )
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Lucy W, that’s the point, Mr. Eade IS pushing hard to build houses in rural areas – lots of them. He’s a board member of Transforming Telford Ltd. a company pushing the creation of the City Region. Don’t you worry, Lucy W, if you live in the country now, there will soon enough be lots and lots of houses for you to choose from. The only good thing I can think of is that the money you make by selling your fields to developers will allow you to move out to the country again. Oh, and just to set you straight, there’s a lot of post offices in Telford that were closed recently, mainly ones in big urban areas, so don’t think that houses keep post offices open – they don’t.
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so long as they stick them all in telford and not in my back yard, am i bovvered?
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Rod: If I can sell my land for building I will be off to New Zealand – check out house and land prices out there!
But if is is for rural development, why did he turn down the chicken farm at the Humbers when the planners recommended approval? Rural houses need rural businesses – the countryside isn’t the rich peoples play area!!
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the poor should still have to pay for homes like we all do but perhaps their mortgage could be at a nice rate from the national rock bank?
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the poor should cut their cloth accordingly and live in caravans. I paid £500 for mine, £250 haulage from Wales and spent less than £250 fitting wood stove, new carpets, curtains and seat covers. There’e no excuse for being homeless or in poverty – poverty is a life-style choice!
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