350 homes plan submitted for greenfield site in Telford
New homes for more than 1,000 people could be built on 100 acres of land on the east side of Telford, if plans are approved.
Known locally as “The Hem”, the field area lies east of Stirchley and the A442 Queensway and north of Halesfield Industrial Estate in Telford.
Telford & Wrekin Council has applied for outline permission for up to 350 semi and detached houses at the site.
Provisional design plans, submitted by Birmingham-based planning agents Atkins Global, say the project will also include play areas, footpaths and a new roundabout at the junction of Halesfield 1 and Halesfield 24.
Pre-application consultation events took place over the summer, and residents and business owners in Stirchley, Halesfield and Nedge Hill have another chance to share their views until Monday, January 4.
Atkins’ design statement says: “The Hem is a 44.3-hectare greenfield site on the eastern edge of Stirchley, set across a valley with a well-defined stream corridor.
“The site is physically separated from the residential area of Stirchley by the A442 and the currently disused Coalbrookdale branch of the Shrewsbury to Birmingham line on the western side.”
Parking spaces
It points out that Telford and Wrekin’s 2011-2031 Local Plan allocates the site for residential use, and says the current proposals include “residential development up to 350 units; a new roundabout on Halesfield 1; extensive open space and amenity areas, including an extensive footpath network, and downgrading and pedestrianising Nedge Lane”.
Of the houses, 210 are planned to have three bedrooms, with 88 additional four-bedroom home and 52 with two bedrooms.
“All three- and four-bed houses are intended to be detached units, with few semis envisaged for two-bed units,” the statement adds.
It also says 700 parking spaces would be provided within the housing plots and 316 more on-street, along with two play areas and nearly 58 acres of landscape and open space.
A “statement of community involvement”, also prepared by Atkins, says the public were consulted through a web page and two public exhibitions, at Brookside’s Sambrook Centre and Randlay Community Centre, while video conferences were held with affected landowners.
A survey received 229 largely negative responses, with 54 per cent saying the proposals could be improved and attracting comments opposing greenfield development and criticising the planned downgrading of Nedge Lane.
Hollinswood and Randlay Parish Council, Madeley Town Council and Stirchley and Brookside Parish Council will all be consulted about the proposal, and Telford & Wrekin Council’s planning committee will discuss the plan at a later date.
