Developers behind care home plan for former Wellington cinema site want approval ‘without delay’

Telford & Wrekin Council’s heritage expert had objected to plans for the former Clifton Cinema/Dunelm site off Bridge Road, saying it would block local views of the Wrekin and be ‘overbearing’.

Developers have told the council that a third review of the design plans are ‘not justified’ and they want the matter resolved as soon as possible.

Clifton Cinema was demolished in 2023, having laid empty for years, and the site is boarded off while a decision is pending.

A built heritage specialist at the council was one of a minority of people to object to the plans. They said it would be “visually intrusive and overbearing".

“The proposal in its current form would fail to protect the setting of a Conservation Area (CA), the setting of a Grade II listed building, and the settings of numerous buildings of local interest, contrary to local policies,” they said.

And although the expert acknowledged that “improvements have been made to the design” the height of the proposed four-storey building on Bridge Road “would markedly exceed even the rather visually jarring excessive height of the former cinema".

The building’s dominance in the street scene would block “most of the view of the Wrekin, causing harm to the setting of the Wellington CA and the settings of the nearby heritage assets".

Planning documents shared on Telford & Wrekin Council’s planning portal reveal extensive back-and-forth between officers and the developers, Morro Partnerships, of Cannock, via their agents, Birmingham-based Claremont Planning Consultancy.

The plan was originally lodged with the borough council in August 2024, and following objections, the developers called in an independent Design Review Panel to assess the design and identify where improvements can be made.

Meetings were held in October and December last year but a logjam of expert objections remained despite changes.

Designers reduced the number of extra care rooms by one, from 64 to 63, but indicated that the development had to be of a certain size to be able to provide “affordable” accommodation for the local community.

Background planning papers reveal that council planners wanted to hold a third Design Review Panel.

But the developers rejected that idea.

“It was requested by the Planning Case Officer that a third Design Review Panel should be undertaken, to review the amendments arising from this process.

“However, it is not considered that this is justified,” say documents from the agents.

They add that overall, it is considered that the “proposals represent a high quality development that will deliver much needed affordable specialist housing, with the proposals consistent with the Development Plan and national planning policy, and should therefore be approved without delay.”

Council planners say they would only support proposals likely to cause ‘substantial harm’ to a Conservation Area, where it has been clearly demonstrated that there would be substantial public benefit.

They say that the fact that the former cinema was four storeys tall was different because it had been “set back into the site, with lower scale buildings adjacent to the highway".

The plans can be viewed on Telford & Wrekin Council’s planning portal using the reference number TWC/2024/0610.