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Parish Council Response to Old Croft Road plans

Berkswich Parish Council have responded to the consultation regarding the planning application for land off Old Croft Road as follows:

APPLICATION 22/36536/OUT
PROPOSED ERECTION OF 40 DWELLINGS, LAND ADJACENT TO 65 OLDCROFT ROAD, WALTON ON THE HILL

Thank you for consulting Berkswich Parish Council on the application above. The Council considered the submission at its meeting on 1 November 2022 and resolved to OBJECT to the proposals on the following grounds:

1. The application is contrary to planning policy. The site is outside the Residential Development Boundary (RDB) for Stafford (which includes Walton on the Hill) in the Plan for Stafford Borough 2014- 2031 as approved 31 January 2017. This is not acknowledged in the Planning Statement by MAX Planning for the applicant. No change is proposed in the RDB around Walton on the Hill in the Stafford Borough Local Plan 2020-40 Preferred Options Consultation issued on 19 October 2022. The Parish Council notes that planning permission for development of part of the site for a Methodist Church and Community Rooms was refused on appeal in November 2000 on the grounds principally that it would breach the RDB and have a harmful effect on the form and setting of Walton on the Hill and the surrounding rural area (APP/Y3425/A/00/1047339. SBC reference 38390)
2. The application site does not meet the criteria to be considered as a “Rural Exception” as set out in policy C5.A.1 Walton on the Hill is included within the urban RDB for Stafford approved in 2017 and cannot be classed as a rural location. By definition any housing shortfall in the parish should be addressed within the urban area: the applicant has not shown there are no appropriate available locations for affordable housing in the Stafford urban area.
3. The applicant has not carried out a parish based Local Housing Needs Assessment (HNA) as required by paragraph C5.A.d. The submitted HNA document prepared by Tetlow King is broad-brush and Borough-wide, not a fine-grained investigation of local circumstance. The references to housing need in South Gloucestershire (sic) at paragraphs 3.29 and 3.40 raise doubt over the rigour and credibility of the report. The Tetlow King document does not identify any demand for affordable housing in Berkswich parish and is not based on any contact or conversation with the Parish Council. Berkswich PC have never been made aware of a latent demand for affordable dwellings in the parish and considers that this application is spuriously trying to impose a not local, but an aggregated Borough-wide need on to this site. This is a misconstruction of the “Rural Exception” provisions. If any local need did arise it could be accommodated within the RDB for Stafford.
4. The development will encroach into open countryside on the south side of Stafford and intrude into views from Cannock Chase Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. This will be contrary to policies N4, N7 and N8 of PFSB 2014. Development on this site will appear an artificial and harmful addition to the existing settlement of Walton on the Hill, a point made by the Planning Inspector in his report in 2000 referred to above.
5. The proposed development threatens the retention of the existing hedgerows on the north-west (Oldcroft Road) and south-east boundaries (public footpath Berkswich 5) of the site (hedgerows 1 and 3 in the Preliminary Ecological Assessment submitted with the application). The application plans, in particular Ophir Architecture drawing TDA26/PLOO3 rev A Block Site Layout (which is not based on an accurate site survey) shows roadside hedge 1 substantially “trimmed” for highway visibility reasons and the hammerhead turn and adjacent service drive constructed so close to the south-eastern hedge 3 as to threaten its survival. These hedgerows are of landscape significance in Walton on the Hill: local visual amenity would be harmed by their removal or substantial reduction. The applicants’ ecological report notes that the hedges comprise native woody species and classifies them as ‘h2a – hedgerows (Priority Habitat) of principal importance under the NERC Act 2006. The consultants conclude that they should be protected. It is highly concerning that the application disregards this recommendation.
6. The additional traffic generated from the development will increase congestion and the danger to highway safety on Oldcroft Road, a narrow, intensively trafficked road without pavements which is heavily used by pedestrians and children accessing two local schools and the nearby football field. Users of the junior football field already park on the road impeding the carriageway and risking danger to road users and football players. Extra traffic generated by the proposed development will exacerbate this problem. The applicant has not submitted a Highway Impact Assessment to assess these risks.
7. The proposed site layout does not, contrary to the claims in the architects’ Design and Access Statement, reflect the established character of local development. The rigid cul de sac highway layout with dual two metre footways, hammerhead turns, residential properties immediately at the back of pavement and very minimal landscaping is unimaginative, urban in appearance and lacking in any sense of place. It does not comply with policy N1 of the PFSB 2014 and the Borough Council’s Residential Design Guide SPD of 2018.
8. There is insufficient capacity in local schools, medical and other community facilities to accommodate the projected number of additional residents. These facilities are already under considerable pressure: additional users risk causing inconvenience and disadvantage to existing users. The sustainability analysis in the Planning Statement is materially inaccurate in this and several other respects (e.g. proximity to public transport, community and retail facilities) undermining its argument that the development site is well located in relation to local services.
The Parish Council strongly advise that Stafford Borough Council should refuse planning permission for this application.