Residents fume over controversial 120-home plan for land off A5 in Telford

After pulling a previous application for the site in St George's in January, Montague Land has made amendments and re-applied to Telford & Wrekin Council for outline permission.

In a planning statement, Immy Platt, from Berrys, the developer’s agent, said it was withdrawn due to issues relating to the proposed access from the highway. However, she said this has been resolved and a better junction design is proposed.

“In addition to the statutory application consultation, the applicant ran an additional consultation exercise with local residents,” said Ms Platt.

“The collective feedback has led to a number of changes being made to the proposal and, in particular, to the indicative site layout drawing.

“Much of the consultation feedback related to specific building plots shown on the 2023 site layout. As this is an outline application, we have amended the indicative site layout plan so that it now shows development parcels only. We believe this reflects more accurately what we are trying to achieve with this application.”

A designated pedestrian crossing point over the A5 is also proposed, with a cycle route connecting the site to Ashley Road. Other features include an additional sewage treatment plant and ecological enhancements.

However, the new plans have still not got the backing from locals, with nearly 70 objections being lodged at the time of writing.

“St George’s & Priorslee have already suffered years of continual development of large housing estates all of which remain unfinished,” said Lewis Carpenter.

“None have contributed to additional schools, GPs, dentists or shops and have only swallowed up land that could have been used for such purposes. The proposed land is of historical importance along with being land used by wildlife such as foxes, bats and buzzards who are numerous and visible all year round.

“Yet again, an application has been sneakily submitted over the summer holidays, where many people will be away and are likely to miss the response window for this.”

Jane Forrester, meanwhile, said privacy will be massively impacted as many of the proposed properties back directly onto existing ones, while Hope Lye said there is no room for schools or GP surgeries to cope with such a build.

The scheme also does not have the support of ward councillor Rachael Tyrrell.

“The previous application referred to blocks of flats which are not in keeping with the natural existing village style residential area,” she said.

“This application is curiously silent on the property type. Access to the development will be a new junction off the A5 Telford Way. This is a busy road leading from the problematic Limekiln Roundabout (which is still waiting for new white lines and the subject of local complaints).

“During construction, traffic will use alternative local roads through St Georges and Priorslee. But Priorslee Avenue is already very busy with the substantial development in Priorslee and the secondary school Holy Trinity Academy.”

Anyone who wishes to make a representation should do so on the Telford & Wrekin Council planning portal by August 30 (reference number TWC/2024/0612).