25,000 jobs plan in blueprint for Telford's future

The proposals have been revealed in Telford & Wrekin Council's Local Plan – a blueprint shaping future development in the borough.

It comes as the authority's planning committee last night approved plans to build nearly 700 homes on two sites in the town.

• 1,100 homes at Priorslee

• 750 in Muxton.

• 300 homes at The Hem, between Telford and Shifnal

• 250 homes at Lawley West

• 200 homes on the former Phoenix Secondary School, Dawley

• 165 homes at The Charlton School, Severn Drive, Dothill

• 123 homes at Sutherland School, Gibbons Road, Trench

• 120 homes south of Springfield Industrial Estate, Station Road, Newport

• 106 at Beeches Hospital, Ironbridge

• 70 north of Priorslee roundabout

• 70 homes at Park Lane, Telford

• 54 at old Madeley Court School site

• 50 at Blessed Robert Johnson, Whitchurch Drive

• 40 at Plot D, Pool Hill Road, Dawley

• 40 at Holyhead Road, Telford

• 40 off Majestic Way, Aqueduct

• 21 homes at the former Swan Centre, Grange Avenue, Stirchley

Permission was granted for phase eight of the ongoing development at Lawley, which will see another 561 homes built.

The committee also gave the green light to a bid to put up 111 homes on the former Dairy Crest site in Crudgington.

A further 17 sites have been identified for housing development as part of the Local Plan, which will go to Telford & Wrekin Council's ruling cabinet next week for approval before going out to consultation with the public.

One of the biggest future developments is at Muxton, where an estate of 750 homes is mooted to support the Ministry of Defence's new logistics hub at Donnington, which is being developed and due to open in 18 months.

There are also plans to build nearly 600 houses on five school sites which have shut or are to close – Sutherland School, the former Madeley Court School site, the former Phoenix Secondary School, Charlton School and Blessed Robert Johnson School.

The blueprint also proposes to allocate nearly 400 acres of new employment land on 28 different sites. Council chiefs say it could provide for up to 25,000 new jobs in the borough. The plan also shows a commitment to protecting green spaces in the borough, local authority bosses say.

Sites such as The Wrekin Forest, Weald Moors and Lilleshall Gap will be protected from developers, while "green guarantees" will be created to protect parks, woodlands, recreation areas and local nature reserves.

The council is to identify 100 green sites in the borough to receive protection, with plans to ask residents to identify a further 50.

The blueprint will see fewer homes built than originally planned, council chiefs say.

In 2010 the authority passed a resolution to build 26,500 homes in the borough between then and 2031. But as part of the Local Plan due to go before the council's ruling cabinet next week, it is being proposed that figure is reduced by more than 40 per cent to 15,555.

Of that revised figure, 12,056 – or about 80 per cent of the total – have either already been built or got planning permission.

Nearly 700 of those were granted permission at a meeting of Telford & Wrekin Council's planning committee last night, with plans to build 561 more homes at Lawley and a further 111 at the former Dairy Crest site in Crudgington given the green light.

Members said the Dairy Crest site was perfect for a housing development and hailed it as a "good news story".

It means 3,499 homes will be built in the town between now and 2031, with 17 sites identified for development to meet the quota.

Green sites are to be avoided, with "green guarantees" introduced at more than 100 sites to protect them from development now and in the future.

Councillor Richard Overton, deputy leader of Telford & Wrekin Council and cabinet member for housing, said: "The new homes allocation in 2010 for Telford and Wrekin of 26,500 was too big, and of the lower number of 15,555, four in five have already been built or have planning permission."