Council drainage experts lodge objection to Telford park homes extension plan - here's why
Water drainage experts have objected to nine more park homes at a site in Telford saying there are shallow mine works and a mine shaft on the site.
Sovereign Parks, of Wolverhampton has applied to Telford & Wrekin Council for permission to extend its site at Homelands Park, at Mossey Green, in Ketley Bank.
There are already 28 park homes on the site which has a licence for up to 35. The new ones would have two beds each and be of “similar design and external appearance to the existing prefabricated units.”
But drainage engineers working with Telford & Wrekin Council’s Environmental Services department says that the “principles of foul and surface water drainage have not been satisfactorily established.”
They say that due to the presence of shallow mine works and a mine shaft within the site, infiltration “must not be used” as the method to dispose of surface water.
“Development shall not take place until a scheme for both foul and surface water drainage has been submitted to and approved in writing by the Local Planning Authority.”
They have asked for the applicants to provide various technical details.
Background papers submitted with the application say that the most recent underground working in the area was in 1900.
The applicants have told planners that the proposed site area includes a parcel of land that has previously been granted permission for “temporary siting of residential caravans during the refurbishment of the existing site.”
Park homes, the applicants say, form an important component of the borough’s overall housing land supply.
“To that extent, the extension of an existing, well-established estate in a central location fulfils many of the housing and transportation objectives of the Local Plan.
“The need to travel would be minimised and proportionate growth would occur within the main urban area, thereby limiting the need to build on greenfield sites within the Borough’s rural areas,” they add.
The application says that “appropriate drainage arrangements would also be put in place in terms of foul and surface water flows. Foul water would be disposed via gravity-fed pipework to the mains sewer; and surface water is to be discharged by way of soakaways, for new roof and hard surfaced areas.
“Conditional control could be employed to ensure that the rate of run-off is no greater than the existing site.
“Given the extensive land under the applicant’s control, it is unlikely that ground conditions will prove unsuitable for infiltration, in one form or another.
“Nonetheless, in the interests of clarity over alternatives, it is likely that below-ground attenuation would be provided, and a restricted rate discharge made to the local sewerage network.”
The application is open for a period of public consultation and the details are on the Telford & Wrekin Council website with the reference TWC/2025/0247.
