Campaigners lose fight to stop 100 homes plan

Peter Bate and Sharron Hooton have campaigned against the proposals

Campaigners, including dog walkers, have lost a battle to stop the building of 100 houses in Staffordshire.

The land on Balls Field sits between Merryfields School and Hempstalls Primary, close to Wolstanton High School.

The plans were refused by Newcastle Borough Council planning committee, but that decision was overturned on appeal.

Staffordshire County Council, which is applying to build the houses, said it had been working on the plans for several years, with new homes and green space in mind.

The planning committee feared the loss of a “unique area of natural open space” that would harm the “integrity and ecological and landscape value of the green heritage network”.

Campaign group Save Wolstanton Green Spaces agreed with these concerns.

Resident Peter Bate was worried about flood risk and requested a detailed hydrological survey be completed.

“When this ground drains, it drains off into the brook and gets really, really wet,” he said.

The original application stated the Environment Agency, Staffordshire County Council and Severn Trent Water had no objections to the drainage approach and strategy subject to conditions.

Roman site

Mr Bate said: “It’s an important part of the history of Newcastle and we want it preserved and not built on.”

He referred to the Roman road that Staffordshire Historic Environment Record thinks may lie under the site.

The county archaeologist recommended further archaeological work is undertaken.

Other residents expressed concerns about losing a communal exercise space, additional traffic and the safeguarding of children at the schools overlooked by the field.

A total of 63 letters of objection were lodged against the original plans.

Mark Deaville, county council cabinet member for commercial matters, said: "We have been working with planning officers from Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council for several years to develop an application for this site that retains public green space and walking routes while providing new homes in an area close to existing amenities."

He said the project had been backed by planning officers at the borough council and welcomed the decision by the planning inspector, saying he had recognised the mitigations provided and that about a quarter of the site would remain green space.

Planning inspector Paul Cooper said: “The main issue in this appeal is whether the development would harm local green space.

"The majority of the comments were dealt with at application stage and only the open space issue was left outstanding.

"I have found no conflict with policy given the particulars of the submitted details."