Plan to build 41 homes on former Telford ironworks approved
Forty-one affordable homes will be built on the site of a former ironworks, after councillors voted to approve plans.
The Wrekin Housing Group and Central and Country Developments Ltd had jointly applied to build the flats, bungalows and houses on overgrown land on the north side of Wellington Road, Muxton, where the Midlands Ironworks once stood.
Central and Country Developments director Peter Mellor told the Telford and Wrekin Council Planning Committee that work would begin on the three-acre site in December and the first houses could become available for residents as early as September 2021.
The land borders Wellington Road and School Road, just down from the Clock Tower roundabout, and is next to existing homes on Kingsley Drive.
Chairman Charles Smith said: “I’m seeing no reason why it shouldn’t be allowed, because it’s derelict land and we need to get it back into operation.”
Donnington and Muxton Parish Council had asked for a roundabout to be built at a nearby junction to “ease traffic flow” towards the Walkers Clock Tower roundabout, which it said is already busy with “lengthy queueing” at peak times.
A statement, from parish clerk Ralph Morgan, was read to the committee, saying: “We do not object to this planning application; it is on a brownfield site, provides housing on an area of infill and is in line with our local plan.”
But he added: “The staggered crossroads junction where Wellington Road crosses School Road, in Donnington, currently causes significant traffic build-up on both the Donnington and Muxton sides, with traffic wishing to make a right turn facing huge problems and lengthy queueing.”
The new homes, potentially adding 80 or more cars to peak-time traffic, makes a “complete redesign” of that junction necessary, he said.
“There is sufficient space and available land in this area to site a roundabout which would help ease traffic flow and graduate entry towards the clock tower roundabout, especially at the busiest times of the day,” Mr Morgan wrote.
An officers’ report, prepared ahead of the committee meeting, said the applicants had agreed to provide a £35,387 “strategic highway network contribution”, along with nearly £20,200 towards play facilities.
Mr Mellor said: “Our understanding, from consultation with the highway authority, is that improvement scheme at the School Road junction forms part of their strategic highway infrastructure proposals, hence the section 106 contribution request, to which we agreed.”
Section 106 of the 1990 Town and Country Planning Act allows local authorities to ask planning permission applicants for financial contributions.
Mr Mellor said the contribution already agreed “takes into account the scale of the development and, therefore, its impact on the highway network, including this junction”. Ring-fencing it specifically for that area was not necessary and the council did not advocate it, he added.
“The proposed planning condition itself would fail the planning test for imposing conditions, as the highways authority are clear it is not necessary for the scheme to be built,” Mr Mellor said.
