Storm of protest over fresh bid for 50 homes in Ellesmere

Plans to build a development of houses off Teal Drive have sparked objections from nearby residents who have already fought off the scheme once.

But about 50 objections have been submitted against the latest plans with residents raising fears of traffic problems and flooding.

One resident, Sarah Staples said: "If approved, this development would bring additional traffic that would cause problems on Teal Drive and roads linking to it, including Grange Road.

"The road is not big enough to handle large volumes of traffic and the junction onto Grange Road is already hazardous, with numerous near-misses over the years as speeding traffic comes over the crest of the bridge. Adding more traffic to the equation will surely result in an accident.

"Another reason this development should not go ahead is due to the flooding risk. Diksmuide Drive, situated adjacent to the development site, has suffered flooding several times over the last few years.

"The development site itself frequently has a large amount of standing water on it from rainfall, and if it were to be developed this would surely increase the level of flooding to Diksmuide Drive as well as the new development site flooding too.

"The drainage is already inadequate without adding more houses."

The plans for the site were initially put in by David Wilson Homes Mercia but Shropshire Council refused to grant permission in February. But since then Les Stephan Planning Ltd, on behalf of the applicant has resubmitted the plans, and appealed the decision to refuse permission with the final decision now resting with a planning inspectorate.

The planning agents have challenged Shropshire Council's SAMDev plan, which earmarks 250 homes for the Wharf site off Canal Way. Agents said that to put all the earmarked homes for the town on one site "prejudices the deliverability of housing" and that it "risks holding the house building industry to ransom".

Another resident Rosemary Johnson said: "One of the main concerns is the risk of flooding. The homes on the southern boundary of the proposed development on Diksmuide Drive have experienced flooding three times since 2005 and I fail to see how a further 68 houses will not add to the existing problem. The next main concern is additional traffic at the Teal Drive/Grange Road junction.

The plans are available to view on Shropshire Council's website.