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Planning Committee - Monday 25 November 2024 6.00 pm
November 25, 2024 View on council website Watch video of meeting Read transcript (Professional subscription required)Summary
The Planning Committee of Telford and Wrekin Council voted to approve an application for the erection of five industrial units at the former Hadley Castle Works in Hadley. There was significant local opposition to the proposal, but committee members felt that the concerns of residents had been sufficiently addressed and that the development would be a significant economic benefit to the area.
Application TWC/2023/0673 - Land off, Hadley Castle Works, Hadley, Telford, Shropshire
The application requested full planning permission for:
- The erection of five industrial units falling into the B2, B8, and EG3 use classes1.
- Ancillary office space.
- Associated parking, electric vehicle parking, gate houses, cycle shelters, an attenuation pond2, landscaping, and all associated engineering works and highway works.
The application was previously deferred by the committee on 4 September 2024 to allow the applicant, Mercia Real Estate (MRE) Limited, to hold further consultation with local people.
There were several speakers from the public in attendance, including Councillor Phil Millwood of Hadley and Leegomery Parish Council, who described the plans as a **monstrous invasion on the skyline, the peace and the local amenity**
.
Speaking for the residents, Councillor Millwood said that MRE **flatly refused to turn the unit around to put the 24-7 loading bays away from residences with no explanation**
.
Samuel Clark, speaking for the applicant, said that the application would provide **significant economic benefits to Telford, including skilled jobs for local people**
. He said that MRE had already had interest from local businesses in the site but that they had been unable to make firm commitments without planning consent being in place.
Consultation and Public Objection
A number of public meetings were held after the application was deferred in September. During the meeting there was some disagreement about the effectiveness of the consultation process.
Councillor Peter Scott, who proposed the deferment, said:
I was the one who asked for a deferment because I felt at the time there's not been enough discussion with residents. Do you feel that there has been sufficient discussion with residents? I can see here in the plan itself in the application that there have been changes, and they appear to be good changes. When I mentioned, I'm hearing the opposite.
Mark, the planning officer, felt that sufficient consultation had taken place and that the applicant had made it clear that **what's in front of us now, what has been submitted, that they are keen for a decision to be made on that. That is, that is as far as they are, um, kind of, prepared to go in terms of the application to, to meet their business needs**
.
There were a large number of objections to the proposal, from both local residents and the council's own Built Heritage Conservation team. This team objected on the grounds that the development would harm the setting of nearby listed canal locks, which are already affected by a housing development on the other side of the canal.
The applicant proposed to mitigate this harm with a substantial landscape buffer of almost 40 metres between the locks and the loading bay area of unit one. They also proposed restoration works to the locks, including desilting and repointing, and the installation of viewing platforms and information boards.
Councillor Doug Moore noted that there were issues with the current road network. He pointed to a line in the report which stated that improvements to the road are **due to be completed in approximately March 2025**
. However, the officer clarified that this referred to the date by which design drawings are expected to be completed, not the date of the completion of the works.
Decision
Councillor Arnold England summed up many of the objections raised when he noted that **a lot of the comments and information is vague, futuristic, on balance**
. He liked the idea of changing the application to an outline planning application. The officer responded that **what is in front of us for which we have to make a decision is full planning permission**
, and that an outline application would require a whole new application and process.
Ultimately the committee felt that the proposed development was in accordance with local and national planning policy. In particular they noted the site is designated as a Strategic Employment Area in the Telford & Wrekin Local Plan and that the scale of the development is therefore to be expected. They also felt that the proposed mitigation measures, including the landscape buffer and the Section 106 contributions3, sufficiently mitigated the concerns of local residents and the Built Heritage Conservation team.
The motion to grant full planning permission was carried after the majority of the committee voted in favour.
-
The Town and Country Planning (Use Classes) Order 1987 puts all developments into different 'Use Classes'. This allows councils to control how land is used. A B2 Use Class designation is for
general industrial
uses. A B8 Use Class is forstorage or distribution
uses. An EG3 Use Class is forlight industrial
uses. ↩ -
An attenuation pond is an artificial pond designed to manage the flow of surface water run-off. They are often used to mitigate the risk of flooding in new developments. ↩
-
Section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 allows local planning authorities to enter into legally binding agreements with developers. These agreements are usually used to mitigate the impact of new developments. In this case the Section 106 agreement will include financial contributions towards the bus stop, strategic network contributions, travel plan monitoring, heritage and biodiversity net gain. ↩
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