Parking fears over long-running Telford housing development

Outline planning permission for up to 800 homes to the south west of Telford, along with education, retail and leisure facilities, was granted 17 years ago and is being built in stages at Lighmoor Village.

Telford and Wrekin Council has given the green light to house builder Jessup and Homes England to build 202 two-, three- and four-bedroom houses on 15 acres of grassland straddling Lightmoor Way.

Horsehay and Lightmoor councillor Jayne Greenaway has raised concerns that an overspill car park currently serving Lightmoor will be removed to make way for the new homes, and asked for the developers to consider the impact on neighbouring residents as they work.

A design statement by Jeremy Ward on behalf of the applicants said: “Lightmoor Village project is the vision of a joint venture between Homes England, Bournville Village Developments Ltd and Bournville Village Trust.

“Outline planning consent, which was originally granted in September 2003, is being developed on a phased basis with most of the primary infrastructure already in place. This includes the mixed-use village centre, primary school, shops and community facilities which lie to the south of the application site.”

The new phase, known as “The Woodlands”, lies between Lightmoor Village, to the south, and “The Paddocks”, another 200-home development, to the north.

Sixty-three two-bedroom, 95 three-bedroom and 44 four-bedroom homes, most of them with two storeys and housing an estimated 430 people altogether, will be built on the land which, Mr Ward said, is currently “made up mostly of grassland with semi-mature broad-leaved trees and hedges”.

Substantial

“A total of 416 parking spaces are provided either on-plot or in private courts, with the remaining 17 spaces provided on-street,” Mr Ward added.

Councillor Greenaway stated: “This site includes the current overspill car park to serve Lightmoor which is being removed and does not include any substantial visitor parking.”

She said the parking space available for visitors to Lightmoor and the Oak Tree Centre, a community and leisure centre, will be reduced during the day throughout the development.

And she requested that planning conditions require the developers to specify and agree their working hours “due to the close proximity to existing residents’ homes”.

In its decision notice, sent to the applicants on November 16, Telford and Wrekin Council planning officers said work should not begin until “a site environment management plan has been submitted to and approved in writing by the local authority”.

This, they added, must include “hours of operation” and provisions for “parking of vehicles of site personnel, operatives and visitors”.