More than 700 homes planned in proposed transformation of Telford town centre

More than 760 new homes, commercial units and business space is being earmarked for land known as Telford Station Quarter.

Turley, the agent for Telford & Wrekin Council has asked the authority's planning experts to take a look at what is being proposed and make a ruling on whether it needs an official environmental impact study before any official application is lodged.

"The proposed scheme includes up to 764 dwellings which will increase the population on site - some of which will be new to the area and some as a result of displacement from the surrounding community," says an assessment of the scheme.

The area is a slab of about 5.56 hectares of land currently occupied by the office buildings Addenbrooke House and Bishton Court, a disused electricity substation, access roads, a footbridge over Lawn Central and landscaping.

The site is currently bound by offices at Windsor House and an extent of Ironmasters Way to the north; offices at Kendal Court, Rampart Way (A5) and Hollinsgate Interchange to the east; Hollinsgate, a section of Lawn Central and an Aldi supermarket to the south; and offices at Darby House and the car park of Telford Plaza to the west.

The assessment looks at the possible impact of the new homes on education and health services.

"Of the maximum 764 dwellings proposed, 345 of these are proposed to be one-bed dwellings. Due to their nature, it is not considered likely that these one-bed dwellings will house both adults and children," says the report to council planners.

"As a result, only the remaining maximum 419 two- and three-bed dwellings have been considered likely to house children."

The documents say one application is poised for 194 homes, an education and digital skills hub with serviced office accommodation, a hotel, commercial units with flexible retail, leisure and food and drink uses, public realm improvements to Ironmasters Way and Lawn Central, layout of associated access roads, landscaping and parking following demolition of the existing Lawn Green footbridge and reprofiling of the surrounding land.

Another application for a mixed-use development for homes and/or offices or education and "flexible retail, leisure and food and drink uses permitted and associated access, landscaping and parking.

The groundworks alone have been estimated to produce approximately 43,000 cubic metres of material. If they cannot find someone to take it, the spoil could end up in landfill.

The request for an impact assessment talks about removing groups of trees along the southern site boundary east of Ironmasters Way11 and fronting onto Lawn Central.

Turley says they are also looking at a "worst case scenario" where both Addenbrooke House and Bishton Court will be demolished (rather than refurbished).

The application document also says the proposals will "introduce buildings largely of greater height than those currently found within the site." This could they say affect the amount of daylight and sunlight that nearby residential properties receive.

On education, Turley says the proposed scheme will "yield approximately 117 primary school students and 67 secondary school students".

But with 17 primary schools within two miles of the site, there is "sufficient capacity for additional children" of both primary and secondary school age.

The increase in population could also "increase demand on local health care services" from an estimated 1,290 extra residents.

In assessing the local GP population, Turley said: "All 10 GP practices within two miles of the site are currently accepting new patients, meaning that it is likely that the occupants of the proposed scheme could be absorbed by these practices.

"Should the need for additional capacity be identified following consultations with the NHS and individual practices, however, financial contributions will be provided in accordance with TWC’s policy."

The scheme is likely to create an extra 520 jobs across the West Midlands, of which 320 will be created in the Telford and Wrekin area. This would add £30.9 million per year to the West Midlands economy through employees’ estimated wages, of which £24.1 million per year would be generated in the TWC area, they say.

New residents are also estimated to earn a combined gross annual income of £16.1 million, spending about £9.5 million on retail and leisure goods.

This they say is "beneficial" but expenditure by residents and site users in the local economy is "unlikely to be significant".

Details of the proposals are on the council's planning website here: https://secure.telford.gov.uk/planning/pa-applicationsummary.aspx?ApplicationNumber=EIA/2022/0005.