MP adds her voice to objections to village homes plan
BURTON and Uttoxeter’s MP has waded into a fight against plans to build five homes on a paddock in a village amid concerns over flooding and highways issues.
Kate Griffiths has leant her support to campaigners opposed to development on a one-acre paddock in College Road, Denstone, which she says could exacerbate flooding issues in the village on land which is classed as being outside of the Denstone “settlement boundary”.
Despite concerns, planning officers at East Staffordshire Borough Council have recommended the plans be approved by its planning committee when it meets on June 22 but on condition the applicant provides “satisfactory” information to officers that the scheme would not exacerbate off-site surface water flooding.
The applicant, a Mr Ball, has applied to build five homes, comprising two affordable homes, two houses for the over-55s and one home to be sold on the open market. This is a revised application, a previous plan for the site asked for six homes.
A report by the council’s planning officers to the committee states that the site is outside settlement boundaries as defined in the East Staffordshire Local Plan, which acts as a blueprint for development in the borough. The site is within Environment Agency Flood Zone 1 (less than 0.1 per cent chance of flooding in any year) and within 200 metres of an area identified as being of a high risk surface water flooding, they said.
Objections have also been raised by Denstone Parish Council and the local councillors. A total of 28 individual local residents/interested parties have submitted objections, the report says.
The parish council claims the development if built on could set a precedent for future development, as it is not within the settlement boundary. It also says the site is 200 metres from a known flood zone, and there would be a negative impact on the view.
They also claim that the housing need in the village was already being met by decisions in the Neighbourhood Plan.
The parish council added: “There are already safety concerns over the access onto College Road and the wider impact of additional vehicular movements in this location. These highways concerns have been raised by Staffordshire County Council and have not been sufficiently addressed in the revised
scheme. The proposed development would exacerbate road safety problems.”
In her objection, Ms Griffiths said: “The land is outside the settlement boundary for the village and therefore not suitable for a development of this kind.
“The land is in the vicinity of the flood plain. Some concerns are exacerbating adjacent land with a high risk of flooding and having a negative impact on existing adjacent land.”
Another 28 objections were submitted which also claimed the development would overlook existing homes, and detract from the setting of the Grade II listed Stone House.
However, a report from JMS Panning, acting on behalf of the applicant, said that part of East Staffordshire’s Local Plan relates to development outside settlement boundaries and advises that proposals that constitute “development under the Rural Exception Sites policy” are acceptable in rural areas.
The report adds that there is a shortage of small housing. It said Midland Rural Housing carried out a questionnaire exercise and the conclusions were that there is a shortage in a number of house and tenure types, with 70 per cent of respondents indicating they would support the development of a small housing scheme to meet the needs of the local community.
The report said: “The main reasons for this were, firstly that most houses in the village are too expensive for firsttime buyers or people wanting to downsize. The report shows that the house prices in the village are higher than the local and national averages and there are no affordable properties available for those on low to moderate incomes. Secondly almost all the respondents were interested in alternative housing for elderly residents. Many of these people were looking to either downsize or find a single-storey property.”
The report also claimed there is no overlooking, loss of light or overbearing impact on neighbours, and will not have a “severe impact” on the highway network.
Finally, the report says alterations have been made to the scheme after a Flood Risk Assessment confirmed that significant surface water flows would be encountered in extreme events on the land to the right of the access.
The plans have been recommended for approval by planning officers who say the development would contribute positively towards meeting the borough’s requirement to provide additional housing.