£1.1m agreement signed as contentious 80-home ‘windfall’ Telford plans progress
A developer has signed a legal agreement to pay £1.1 million for various community contributions to progress plans to build up to 80 homes on a hugely contentious site in Telford.
Montague Land’s plans to build homes north and east of Greenways Farm Shop, off Church Street, in St Georges, provoked furious opposition from around 300 residents and councillors before they were approved.
Objections included that the site was not identified for housing in the local plan.
Various rounds of consultation with the public and officials saw the windfall housing plans reduced from 120 to 100 before 80 homes was finally settled on.
Telford & Wrekin Council members gave their officers permission to reach an agreement with Montague Land following two meetings of the Planning Committee in October and December last year.
Now background papers published on the Telford & Wrekin Council website show that a section 106 legal agreement was signed on July 16 this year.
The council published its formal decision notice the next day.
It involved the council, Homes England, Montague Land and local landowners Stephen John Taylor, Phillippa Janice Hardin and Mark Philip Taylor.
The signed agreement showed that education will receive £710,275, highways gets £68,146, some 25 per cent of the homes will be “affordable”, and the NHS will receive £71,661.
There will be other contributions of £166,561 towards play equipment, £52,000 for sport and recreation, and £80,000 for The Flash Local Nature Reserve.
On top of this a further £20,000 will go to bus shelter upgrades.
And the developers will pay a 2 per cent fee so the council can monitor its activities.
Planning officers pointed out during the process that the application was to determine the principle of development. Further reserved matters applications will have to be submitted on the details of layout, design and access.
The developer has been told to abide by a large number of conditions including providing 90 bird and bat boxes.
It will also have to carry out an archaeological survey as the site is known to be in an area of importance.
There is the remnant of a medieval moat located in the central northern part of the site.
And the developer has said that the moat and the area around it will be left as public open space and accessible to the public via the footpath which runs alongside it.
