Marketing No Comments

Anger over plan to demolish Telford house to make way for 85 new homes

Plans have been put forward to demolish a house in Telford to make way for more than 80 new homes.

Shropshire Homes want to knock down the home in Wellington Road, Muxton, to build the estate of 85 homes, which will include affordable housing.

It would form part of a huge development of 665 homes plus industrial units on the site, which were put forward by Tesni Properties – close to the site on land north of Breton Park Residential Caravan Park, off New Trench Road.

Now, those living nearby have criticised the plans – with 24 objections made to Telford & Wrekin Council.

Residents claim the village is being “continually harassed” by developers and called for it to be stopped.

Richard Green, spokesman for Wellington Road Action Group, said: “Yet again we have another pot shot being fired at the residents of Muxton and in particularity those living on Wellington Road.

“This time Shropshire Homes is planning to build 85 houses on prime agricultural land. However, once again, they initially must demolish a house of outstanding character on Wellington Road to which to gain access.

“When are we, the residents, going to see the 2011 to 2031 local plan approved – only then, will this continual harassment be stopped once and for all.”

The property, called Green Gables, will be demolished to form the access to the new site.

Thirty-five per cent of the properties would be affordable. The application was submitted towards the end of November.

Council officers have said that a contribution of £600 per dwelling would be sought in order to upgrade nearby play facilities.

Howard Thorne, managing director of Shropshire Homes said: “The Tesni application is for a large area and has a number of complications – mainly concerning access and landscape impact.

“Our application is for just a small part of the Tesni site. Access will be from a modest junction on Wellington Road which meets council requirements and the site is surrounded by mature trees so there are no landscape concerns.

“The great benefit of our proposal is that, because there are no technical issues, it can be delivered very quickly. If our application is approved we expect to be building much needed houses, including over 20 affordable homes, by autumn 2018.”

Donnington and Muxton Parish Council will meet at 6.30pm today at Turreff Hall in Donnington to discuss the matter.

Mr Green has urged residents to attend the meeting.

Angry resident, Roger France, who is part of the action group, added: “The key first phase of the Tesni scheme is this access and an initial build of about 85 houses. The project is on hold awaiting conclusion of the TWC Local Plan.

“We now have another application – this time from Shropshire Homes – identical to that of Tesni’s first phase and amazingly also for 85 houses.

“By a stroke of luck, this application has a ‘village green’ in precisely the right position to allow the site’s main access road to be extended if Tesni subsequently submitted a new application for the balance of the 665 properties.”

“Shropshire Homes’ seemingly innocuous application is a cynical attempt to secure a main construction site access from Wellington Road for a major development of 665 houses and industrial units.

“If residents do not want years of heavy construction traffic polluting Wellington Road, they must write to TWC Planning Department and object to this proposal.”

Source: Shropshire Star

Marketing No Comments

Theresa May hints at new government policies to build “more houses, more quickly”

The Prime Minister has committed to building “more houses, more quickly” as the government comes under further pressure on the growing housing crisis.

The government will announce measures to “fix the broken housing market” in “the coming weeks and months”, Theresa May said.

The Prime Minister was speaking ahead of new housing supply figures, which are due out tomorrow morning.

Most recent figures, for 2015-16, showed an 11 per cent year-on-year increase in the total number of net additional dwellings to 189,650 – but the total was still down 15 per cent on the 2007-2008 peak.

May said: “For decades we simply have not been building enough homes, nor have we been building them quickly enough, and we have seen prices rise. The number of new homes being delivered each year has been increasing since 2010, but there is more we can do.

“We must get back into the business of building the good quality new homes for people who need them most.”

May was speaking ahead of an announcement given today in Bristol by communities secretary Sajid Javid to wipe housing associations’ debt off the balance sheet.

Javid will say: “There are many, many faults in our housing market, dating back many, many years. If you only fix one you’ll make some progress, but not enough. This is a big problem and we have to think big.”

Last month the minister called on his cabinet colleague Philip Hammond to consider borrowing billions at current low interest rates to boost house building. However City A.M. understands the chancellor is cool on the measure – or indeed anything particularly radical – being included in next week’s Budget.

Source: City A.M.

Marketing No Comments

28,000 homes plan could benefit Shropshire’s rural landowners, says expert

Paul Middleton said that although the housing figure would be quite a challenge to fulfil, it could prove to be a positive move for rural landowners.

The development forms part of Shropshire Council’s local plan review.

The council’s cabinet approved a consultation document last week, which will seek the views on the preferred scale and distribution of future developments across Shropshire.

The review includes building 28,750 homes across the county, while the consultation document also looks at employment growth.

The consultation period began last week and closes on December 22.

Mr Middleton, of rural surveyors and estate agents Roger Parry and Partners, said: “A housing figure of 28,750 across the county is quite a challenge to fulfil, that equates to a delivery rate of around 1,430 dwellings a year.

“It therefore follows there will need to be development in the rural areas to assist in meeting these targets, and this places great emphasis on the emerging Hierarchy of Settlements policy.”

The Hierarchy of Settlements document puts forward rural settlements that have gone through a screening process for size, population, service provision, internet links, transport links and employment opportunities.

Mr Middleton added: “If adopted, the Hierarchy of Settlements could provide opportunities for development that presently are not achievable, which is very positive indeed for rural landowners.

“We will of course be liaising closely with the council during the course of the consultation to ensure that our planning team are best placed to advise clients on the development opportunities, that will undoubtedly come to fruition in the future.”

The extra 10,347 houses are mostly planned for the towns in Shropshire, with 30 per cent planned for Shrewsbury, 24.5 per cent planned for the bigger towns such as Market Drayton, and Whitchurch, 18 per cent for smaller towns such as Much Wenlock and Bishop’s Castle, and 27.5 per cent for rural areas.

Ian Kilby, planning services manager, said: “In the recession there were about 800 houses built per year, and last year we had 1,910 delivered.

“It’s only a few years ago that next to no houses were being built.

“There was significantly more development last year than there was.”

But the council admitted that, as of this year, there were more than 11,000 cases where planning permission had been granted for homes where construction was yet to start.

Source: Shropshire Star