By Kerry Ashdown

Copyright expressandstar

The outline proposals, for up to 215 homes on land off Stafford Road, are one of four applications being considered for a wider development of up to 1,100 homes, older people’s housing, a new school and community centre on a 69.5 hectare (171.8 acre) area.

Earlier this month South Staffordshire Council’s planning committee heard that another application for the area put forward by Bloor Homes had gone to appeal on the grounds it had not been determined by the authority. They voted in favour of approving the proposals for 135 new homes however, and their response will be used as part of the council’s appeal submissions.

The application considered at Tuesday’s (September 23) planning committee meeting covers an 11.2-hectare (27.7 acre) area across three fields and also proposes demolition of an existing home on the site, as well as access and infrastructure including public open space. More detailed plans, such as housing types and site layout, are set to come forward in a reserved matters application at a later date.

Mark Rose of Define Planning and Design Ltd, who spoke in support of the application at Tuesday’s meeting, said: “The national housing crisis is widely recognised, as are the severe socio-economic consequences that have arisen for all sections of society. This application seeks to bring forward the delivery of 215 new homes in the second phase of the proposed allocation site to the north of Penkridge, as identified in the council’s emerging Local Plan.

“The proposal to allocate the site is a reflection of its suitability for development. The site is well-related to Penkridge, which is a settlement with a wide range of day to day services, it also lies outside of the green belt which covers most of the district.

“Bloor Homes and the council have worked very closely together to ensure the delivery of a high quality development. The result is a well-considered proposal that would realise a truly sustainable, well-planned and high quality new neighbourhood, supported by the infrastructure required to meet the day to day needs of residents.

“The houses will be accessed via an extension from the successful Bloor Homes scheme to the south, and from a new priority junction on the A449. The scheme will deliver 40 per cent affordable housing provision in line with the policy in the adopted Local Plan; that will make a significant contribution to addressing the area’s market and affordable housing needs and the acute five-year housing land supply shortfall to provide opportunity and choice for local people.”

Claire Keay, headteacher of St Leonard’s First School in Dunston, a village north of the site, raised concerns at Tuesday’s meeting that the new development could impact its sparsity funding, which is given to schools that are considered remote and small.

She said: “Our objection is not to development in principle, but to the unintended consequence of serious financial harm that this proposal would cause to our small rural school through the loss of sparsity funding.

“The school currently has 70 pupils and receives approximately £40,000 per year in sparsity funding, which is crucial to our viability. If the proposed new settlement proceeds, the location of the housing within the development will alter the way sparsity is calculated.

“As a result our school is highly likely to lose either all, or the majority, of the funding. The additional pupil numbers generated by the development cannot offset this deficit; firstly because there will be an alternative closer first school which forms part of the proposals, and secondly because our small capacity does not allow us to expand sufficiently to replace the lost funding.

“This represents a direct and disproportionate disadvantage to our pupils, putting the financial health and long-term future of our school at risk. We therefore respectfully request that the committee ensures a Section 106 contribution is secured from the developer to mitigate this harm.”

The committee was told the developer could not be required to pay money towards provision of a school within the proposed scheme and mitigate for harm elsewhere however, and requiring two payments would be “unreasonable”. The sparsity payment issue had been brought to the attention of Staffordshire County Council, the local education authority, but the “complicated” funding calculation is undertaken by the Government’s Department for Education.