Too many homes being built in Newport, says councillor

Councillor Andrew Eade says more building should take place on brownfield sites and there should be greater emphasis on creating job opportunities before housing.

He was speaking as an application was due to be discussed by the council's planning committee yesterday for 19 homes in Newport, on land between Beech Hill and Blue House Barns in Chetwynd Road.

The plans have been recommended for approval by officers from Telford & Wrekin Council. Newport Town Council has not objected to the plans, but has said it is "disappointed" to see another application has been made on a green field site in the town. Three letters of comment have been sent in by neighbours, along with two further letters of objection.

Councillor Eade, leader of the Telford & Wrekin Conservative party and ward member for Church Aston and Lilleshall, said he was concerned by the sheer number of applications that have been put forward for housing developments in Newport and the surrounding areas, particularly on these green field sites.

He said: "I don't think this level of development is sustainable at all.

"It is going to cause a lot of long term problems in terms of traffic.

"There is a lot of the wrong development in the wrong locations and there should be development of brown field sites ahead of the green field.

"More jobs need to be provided locally, there should be more done to create jobs in Newport and that should be done before any housing development.

"People should have access to employment in Newport to prevent them having to travel to Telford or further afield.

"The A518 is terrible in the mornings and I think with all this extra development in the town it will become all but impassible.

"There are plenty of brownfield sites in Newport and I think more should be done to incentives developers to build on them.

"Telford & Wrekin Council should be leading the way on this locally."