Work to start on roundabout at 'dangerous' crossroads near Telford

The third phase of the Dairy Crest development in Crudgington will include a roundabout at the junction of the A442 between Telford and Whitchurch, and the B5062 from Shrewsbury to Newport.

Shropshire Homes had plans approved last year for the third stage of the development but submitted a further application to remove a further financial contribution towards local education due to spiralling costs.

That application was approved by Telford & Wrekin Council’s planning committee at a meeting on Wednesday night.

Planning officer Andy Gittins said that the development was now proceeding but updated costings by the applicant showed that the cost of the roundabout had ‘increased substantially’ – a further £413,000 above the £2 million previously costed.

The applicant argued that the scheme was ‘no longer viable’ with the £465,017 financial agreement towards education whilst also building the roundabout.

Andrew Sheldon, land director at Shropshire Homes, said that removing the education agreement for the third phase was ‘not done lightly’.

“The reason for this application is as a result of quite exceptional circumstances with inflation massively effecting our build costs,” added Councillor Sheldon.

Mr Sheldon said that there would be a ‘huge public benefit’ of the roundabout and that they were ‘absolutely committed’ to its construction and are ready to make a start in September.

He added that there was a restriction which stated that only a proportion of the planned houses can be occupied before the roundabout is completed.

Councillor Steve Bentley, ward member for Ercall Magna, spoke in support of the variation of conditions for the third phase only.

He said that in the first and second phases of the development the applicant had already spent £791,882 including education and highways money. That included: £314,675 for the expansion of Crudgington School, £142,609 toward transportation of secondary school pupils to Charlton school, £183,508 for the expansion of Charlton School, £52,000 towards highways and £100,000 indexation.

“The creation of the roundabout with the reconfiguration of the dangerous Crudgington crossroads will improve the highway network,” said Councillor Bentley.

“It will improve safety for all road users and pedestrians. The junction for many years has witnessed many collisions, some minor, some significant and with fatalities.

Councillor Peter Scott supported the application and said that the roundabout was ‘vitally important’ and ‘will save lives’.

“I feel the risk to losing the roundabout is too great,” added Councillor Scott. “I feel that I have to support it.”

However, Councillor Giles Luter opposed the application, stating that it was a ‘dangerous president’ to allow companies to not pay ‘considerable sums’ of Section 106 money to support local infrastructure.

“Developments of this size are going to put quite a significant strain on local schools,” said Councillor Luter.

“It’s not some frivolous amount of money which is being spent on something that isn’t important, it’s extremely important for people living in that area and the people moving into these houses will need to use those facilities.”

Councillor Nigel Dugmore highlighted that Telford & Wrekin Council is the highways authority and ‘should be putting the roundabout in’.

“The funding to increase the school capacity will have to come out of council funds,” he added. “So the residents of Telford & Wrekin are still going to have to foot the bill.

“If the highways authority had put the roundabout in the first place then the costs would have been less.

“This situation has arisen because as a council we’re not really doing our job.”

His views were supported by Councillor Gemma Offland who said that local amenities already struggle in the area and schools are oversubscribed.

The council’s planning officer added that when the development is occupied it would bring Crudgington Primary School to capacity and that would impact on the catchment areas of the school.

Councillors voted in favour of approving the removal of the Section 106 agreement.