Parish council opposes heritage site homes bid
A PARISH council is to recommend that plans to redevelop part of what was once a key employment site in the Staffordshire Moorlands are refused.
Plans involve redeveloping Froghall Wharf for housing. A listed farmhouse would also be restored and turned into home.
The site formed part of the former Thomas Bolton and Sons copper factory, which employed hundreds of workers in its heyday.
Froghall attracts thousands of visitors and walkers to the Churnet Valley Railway and canal basin each year.
The proposed development sits between Foxt Road and the B5053 Ipstones road, and borders the A52 Kingsley to Whiston highways, with the larger industrial site on the opposite side of the B5053. The area borders the parishes of Kingsley and Ipstones.
But after a long debate at last week’s meeting of Kingsley Parish Council, councillors voted to recommend to planners at the district council that the application be refused on the following grounds:
■ The development would block the line of the route to the Uttoxeter canal.
■ There has been a lot of work and more than £700,000 spent on a new basin and lock in Froghall and work has also been done in the Alton and Denstone part of the canal route by volunteers.
■ The scheme would end hopes of reopening the canal and a walking path.
■ The proposed development is unsustainable, as there is no public transport, no shop, no schools and no facilities.
■ There is a significant flood risk and it is overdevelopment in the Churnet Valley.
■ The site is heavily polluted and it has not been established that the site can be suitably developed.
However, the parish council was in favour of the renovation of the old farmhouse.
Chairman Councillor Ken Unwin said: “There are some positives, which is the renovation of the farmhouse. It is also a brownfield site which is blot on the landscape.
“However, there are negatives, which include overdevelopment. Froghall is a small village and this would have a massive impact on the community.
“It would also have a negative impact on tourism and the flood risk is significant. If the culvert blocked there could be a major problem.
“The loss of the route of the canal is a significant issue.”
Councillor John Steele said the site was a critical part of the canal route, adding: “The issue is that this does not preserve the route of the Caldon Canal.
Twenty eight houses will impact on the line. In 2014 the Churnet Valley Master Plan gave reference, saying that line is protected.
“The Local Plan has been approved by Staffordshire Moorlands District Council and the Bolton’s houses were not in it. These would be extra houses, so they are not needed. The site is also heavily contaminated.”
Councillor Ivor Lucas said volunteers had done a lot of work on the canal line, adding: “The basin and new lock in Froghall cost £625,000 and this was in line that the canal would be restored. Groups from all over the country have come to do work on the line.
“This is a heritage site. A lot of money has been spent. We need to preserve the line and support the canal people. If this goes ahead we will lose all the system. It would also ruin Froghall.”
Councillor Martyn Hordern said there were lots of pluses, but a big minus, adding: “This would tidy up a blot on the landscape. It is not a beautiful site, it is a mess.
“There is the issue of the canal route which the majority of people are against building on. It is a disappointing exercise as the canal only gets about five lines in the plan.”
Councillor Elsie Fallows said: “I object to the houses off Foxt road as it is very narrow. When the basin was opened up landowners were asked about reopening the canal. We have to support the canal.”
County councillor for the area, Mike Worthington, who was present at the meeting said: “The site is unsustainable as there is no transport. The heritage line of the canal has to be saved.”