Plan for 171 new homes in Wellington 'may make traffic worse'

Plans have been put forward for 171 homes on the site of the Former Orleton Park and County Infants Schools.

But people living nearby say it is already a busy area and the site needs another entrance other to the one on to Orleton Lane, which is used as an access onto the M54.

Bill Higgins has been gathering signatures for almost 12 months to get improvement work done on the neighbouring Hollies Road which he says is subsiding.

So far 200 people have signed his petition and he says the new development will only increase problems.

He said: "I've looked at the plans and I think it is just too big.

"If each home has two cars it is more than 300 extra cars.

"It is absolute chaos on the roads around there and I think this development needs to be drastically reduced.

"We need another entrance, maybe onto Wrockwardine Road which will help ease the traffic issues."

The development has been proposed by Lovell Homes and includes The 171 homes,with associated parking, highways works, a new changing room facility for football pitches, foul water pumping station and storm water balancing pond.

Lovell submitted the initial planning layout in 2009 for 165 properties, but this has been increased under the new proposals.

It was submitted to Telford & Wrekin Council in September and will be decided by councillors in the near future.

The online planning application has already received two objections, one from a neighbour and another from Telford & Wrekin Council's ecology team which criticises the development as "the proposed site design appears to take no account of the habitats currently present on the site".