Residents’ objections to plan for new houses
PLANS to build houses on fields owned by a Leek councillor are set to be thrown out.
Staffordshire Moorlands District Council has received 177 objections to a proposal to develop land off Thorncliffe Road in Leek.
And now planners at the council have recommended the outline planning application for refusal.
The land is owned by Brian Johnson who represents Leek East on the district council and is also a Leek town councillor.
Objectors have raised a raft of concerns about the potential
development of the 5.5-hectare site, including the loss of greenfield land, the impact on wildlife, the dangers of additional traffic on country roads and the impact on the character of the area - and have pointed to the fact that the location is not included in the council’s local plan.
Stilehouse Lane resident Marilyn Cox said: “I cannot believe that someone has the temerity to submit such a damaging planning application. They clearly have no respect for our countryside or the future enjoyment of it by many walkers, cyclists and horse riders who constantly use it.
“Should this application be recommended for approval, which should raise serious questions, there would then be nothing to stop whole sections of land adjoining that road from suffering the same fate.”
Louise Clay, who lives off Stilehouse Lane, said: “The influx of a large amount of vehicles which this development would obviously bring would make Thorncliffe Road quite hazardous.
“There would also be an increase in traffic flow along Stilehouse Lane as these motorists head for the Ashbourne Road. Presently this narrow lane has light traffic flow and even now can be quite dangerous to drive, walk and ride along. The addition of a substantial amount of extra vehicles could, and we are sure would, lead to accidents occurring and possible loss of life. We have more than enough land available on the local plan without destroying beautiful open countryside which can never be replaced.”
Fellow objector Paul Scragg, of Pitcher Lane, Leek, said: “The proposed development is totally inappropriate for a site such as this, which is of a rural nature. If you venture past the former Moss Rose Inn you are immediately in the Staffordshire Moorlands and this development would put an end to it. It would stick out like a sore thumb.”
The application has been opposed by Leek Town Council, with councillors saying the development would ‘spoil the visual amenity of this exceptionally beautiful site,’ and Tittesworth Parish Council. Objections have also been received from Staffordshire County Council’s highways department and the Peak District National Park.
The district council’s planning applications committee will make a decision at its meeting on November 22.
A report prepared ahead of the meeting states: “This is a greenfield site. The application would fundamentally change the character and appearance of the site from its present rural/agricultural character to one of a substantial suburban residential development, and this in turn would affect the surrounding landscape character.
“It would be notably incongruous and would undoubtedly have suburbanising effects, and would clearly result in an expansion of Leek into a sensitive landscape on the fringe of the Peak District National Park resulting in harm to views from the Park, its setting and special qualities.
“Insufficient information has been received to demonstrate that the proposed development will have an acceptable impact on the highway network, that safe and suitable access can be achieved for all users and that the existing drainage system will not be adversely compromised by the development.”