Community launches fighting fund to block builders

Eccleshall Parish Council wants to prevent large developments significantly enlarging the town

Community leaders have agreed to allocate £10,000 to fight plans for large housing developments in a Staffordshire town.

People in Eccleshall fear the town could almost double in size over the coming years, with hundreds of new homes earmarked across 10 sites.

One local councillor described it as an "unprecedented wave of housebuilding" in the town and an online petition against the plans has now received more than 2,700 signatures.

Developers argue their plans are modest and proportionate to the size of the town, but Eccleshall Parish Council has agreed to appoint a consultant with the £10,000 budget to scrutinise the plans.

The authority said it would put forward representations on the major applications.

"To me it's an essential thing to do," said councillor Chris Wilkins.

"We haven't got a hope of dealing with this the way we do it at the moment. They have an answer for everything.

"We need to go through everything in fine detail so we can put in an objection. A planning consultant is fundamental to our objections."

Councillor Ros Langford added she felt it was "money well spent".

Representatives from Muller Property Group and planning consultant Walsingham Planning gave a presentation on their plans for three sites across the town.

They are proposing 55 homes on land to the south of Shaws Lane, 48 properties on land to the south of Langton Park and west of Newport Road and 65 houses on land to the north of The Burgage.

'A lot of interest'

Mark Krassowski, director of Walsingham Planning, said the borough's overall government housing requirement had increased from 358 per year over five years, to 749 per annum, meaning more ready-to-build on sites need to be found.

Because of the greater number of new properties now required, Mr Krassowski said Stafford borough's current position shows the number of sites available that are ready to be built on will only cover 3.65 years, not the full five years.

"Eccleshall is a sustainable settlement – it is a key service community within Stafford Borough and it has attracted a lot of developer interest," he said.

"We believe the sites we have got are modest in size and proportionate to the size of the settlement.

"They are obvious locations for rounding off of a settlement and they are developable over a short period of time."

However, Langford questioned how the overall level of proposed development could be considered sustainable because of a lack infrastructure.

"We haven't got the resources or infrastructure to deal with what we have already got now. I don't know how you can say it is sustainable," she said.

This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service, which covers councils and other public service organisations.