Trees near Telford McDonald’s to be axed and replaced in ‘low carbon’ EV charger scheme

Trees will be removed and replaced as part of a scheme to place 16 ‘low carbon’ electric vehicle chargers in a part of a Telford retail park.

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The trees, close to the McDonald’s restaurant at Telford Forge Retail Park, will be replaced to ‘offset’ those being axed as part of the development, council planners have confirmed.

Council planning documents reveal that a landscaping scheme was revised and is “now considered to be sympathetic to the character of the surrounding area.”

Hampshire-based InstaVolt Ltd had lodged an application for the chargers, a feeder pillar, a CCTV post and one substation at the retail park off Colliers Way, in Old Park.

The feeder pillar – a central distribution hub for the charging points – and the CCTV camera are described as ancillary equipment to support the operation of the chargers and substation.

Planners at Telford & Wrekin Council decided that the works are limited in scale and are typical of infrastructure required to “support the transition to low-emission vehicles.”

Officials noted that updated plans include the provision of replacement tree planting to offset those trees being removed as part of the development.

They also noted that the proposal supports the provision of sustainable transport infrastructure which “promotes the transition to a low carbon future”.

Officials noted that the 23 sq metre site is too small to need to prove a biodiversity net gain.

And overall it would not result in any adverse visual impact.