Plans for houses at empty farmhouse to be reconsidered
PLANS to bulldoze an empty Uttoxeter farmhouse to make way for new two new homes, which were deferred because they were said to have “no agricultural connection”, are to be reconsidered by councillors.
The scheme to demolish the 19thcentury Roycroft Farm, in Bramshall Road, went before East Staffordshire Borough Council’s planning committee in October.
Councillors voted to defer a decision on whether to accept the plan as they did not agree with the design of the two homes proposed fo the site.
It comes as the wider Roycroft Farm site is developed with more than 120 homes as part of the new Barley Fields estate.
Members commented that they agreed with the overall project but it was the style of houses that they disliked.
At the previous meeting it was agreed to put the plan on hold “to allow discussions with planning officers and the applicant to allow them to reconsider the design and layout to reflect the farm/agricultural heritage of the existing site.”
Now, the application, submitted by Brian Egerton, will be reviewed by councillors again at the planning meeting on Tuesday.
This comes after talks took place between council planning officers and the applicant, with the plan being recommended for approval.
Two homes will still be built following the demolition of the old farmhouse, with the first remaining as a five-bedroomed house.
But the property has now been redesigned to be “more visually dominant” as it is on the corner of Bramshall Road and Geoff Morrison Way, according to a report by council officers on the project.
The second home will now be four bedrooms instead of the original five. This house will also now be set back further from the road.
Both homes will be built from red and mixed red brickwork, with Staffordshire blue plain clay tiled roofs.
The report says: “The existing buildings occupying the site, comprising the farmhouse and a range of outbuildings, are of 19th-century date. However it is not considered that these buildings in themselves are of any significant historical or architectural merit.
“Their original historical context has, of course, also been significantly diminished with the development of the fields around them for residential purposes.
“As such, it is considered that it would not, in principle, be reasonable to refuse the scheme on the basis of the proposed demolition of the existing structures.”