Stafford site flattened ahead of plans to build hundreds of new homes

The former General Electric site on Lichfield Road, Stafford, is making way for what could be up to 400 properties.

The plant closed down in March 2019. Developer St Modwen has launched plans to build the homes.

The company has already secured permission for up to 430 homes on the old Areva site off nearby Fairway.

A consultation event was held at the grounds of Brocton FC, in Silkmore Lane, in November 2019 into the Lichfield Road plans, which drew considerable interest with visitors flocking there.

However, some residents voiced concerns about how the town’s existing roads, health services and other infrastructure will cope with extra homes.

There have also been questions raised about the provision of affordable homes on the site.

An information board displayed at the consultation event said: "Residential development is considered to be the most viable, suitable and sustainable option for the site.

Opportunity

"The site presents an excellent opportunity to help satisfy Stafford’s housing needs, provide a greater choice of homes in the local area and increase access to new, modern homes for the community.

"The site has evolved over time to be very specific to the former GE operations.

"It has been in industrial use for over 100 years; many buildings are old, outdated and redundant.

"It would not be possible to find a long term, viable, sustainable use for the buildings and they cannot be retained.

"We have looked into redeveloping all of the site for employment use, demolishing the existing buildings and creating new industrial units.

"However access would be needed via Lichfield Road to secure modern day business employers and this is not feasible.

"There is also insufficient market demand to sustain this amount of new employment development in this location."