Telford homes plan labelled 'too dense' as redevelopment bid for former NHS site opposed
Redevelopment plans for a former NHS site include homes that are “too dense” and risk overwhelming the “narrow” access roads, councillors say.
Fodens Developments Ltd bought Castle Lodge, in Dawley, last year, and has applied for outline permission to build a 24-flat building and four houses there.
A design statement from the company’s planning agents says knocking down the “eyesore” – which operated as a care home until 2015 – “will improve the visual aspect of the area”.
Dawley and Aqueduct councillors Andy Burford and Concepta Cassar have submitted a “call-in” notice to Telford and Wrekin’s planning department, requesting that the application be decided in public by the authority's planning committee.
Great Dawley Town Council also objects to the bid, with councillors having voted unanimously to oppose it.
Blueprints submitted by Fodens Developments show the one and two-bedroom apartments would range in size from 546 to 700 square feet and be housed in a building at the north side of the 1.2-acre site.
'Eyesore'
Two detached houses, one of which is a bungalow, and a pair of semis would also go at the south side.
Andy Williams, of Shifnal-based Advance Land and Planning Ltd, writes on behalf of the company that “the existing building is undistinguished and can reasonably be described as an eyesore”.
The development, which he adds would “improve the visual aspect of the area whilst making good use of brownfield land”, would be accessed through a private land joining the north end of Attwood Terrace.
Cllr Burford’s and Cllr Cassar’s call-in request says they believe “the density of the design has a detrimental effect on neighbourhood streets, particularly Attwood Terrace, in terms of traffic flow and parking”, the three-storey apartment buliding would overshadow neighbouring homes and compromise privacy and providing just four houses including only one bungalow “fails to take into account the character of the local areas and its housing needs”.
Draft minutes of Great Dawley Town Council’s April meeting say Councillor Sally Lill called the planned development “too large and out-of-character with the area” and Councillor Ben Carter pointed out it would also have an effect on Purbeck Dale and King Street, to the north and east of the site.
Members voted unanimously to opposed the application and ask for the parish council to be represented at the planning committee meeting.
