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The changing face of a rural parish Telford has been identified in the West Midlands Regional Planning Guidance as an area suitable for residential development.
The estimated population growth in Telford and Wrekin from 1995 to 2006 is estimated to be 60%, thus creating a substantial demand for additional housing although the Borough Council will only allow development on brownfield sites. Much of this demand will be catered for in the planned Lawley Development.
In recent years, Lawley has been subjected to extensive opencast mining leaving undeveloped areas (now classed as brownfield sites). These sites are owned by English Partnerships who now plan to create one of the largest urban extensions in England; the Lawley Development Project. The project is a sustainable development strategy to promote the regeneration of the area as outlined in the Wrekin Local Plan 2001—2006 that will be delivered over the next 15 to 20 years by English Partnerships and the Borough of Telford & Wrekin.
HISTORY Open cast mining continued for a while after Section 7(1) of the New Towns Act 1981 authorised the site for development way back in 1987 when the land was earmarked for redevelopment and regeneration.
Much of the land has lain dormant until the last five years when approximately 800 dwellings have been built, including the provision of open space and woodland; known as the ‘Green Network’.
ASSESSMENT An extensive environmental assessment carried out by Atkins on behalf of English Partnerships during 2004 has concluded that there are no clear reasons why development should not take place on the proposed development site. The development will cover an area of approximately 100 Ha and will provide 20% of housing requirements for Telford and Wrekin until 2018.
PLANNING GAIN Section 106 of the Town & Country Planning Act 1998 enables local authorities to negotiate with developers to provide something for the benefit of the local community in which the development will take place. The Borough of Telford & Wrekin is currently negotiating planning benefits of which the principle elements include:
Education Waste Transport Subsidy Community Centre
EMPLOYMENT Policy P7 of the Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin Joint Structure Plan 1996-2011 outlines employment development within Telford & Wrekin and states that 224 hectares of land should be reserved for employment purposes for the period 1996 – 2011. Policy P11 further states that Local Plans should have regard for quality, size and location of employment sites and that they should be located within a good transport network in order to minimise travel to work.
EDUCATION The Borough of Telford & Wrekin has carried out a strategic review of educational provision as part of the Lawley “Enquiry by Design”. The report states that “There is no requirement for a new secondary school arising from the Lawley development”. Ladygrove Primary School has reached its maximum admission number and there is no room for expansion. Lawley Primary School will be able to admit a high number of pupils entering the area as a result of the first phase of new development and will also be able to expand sufficiently to add an additional two class bases.
The report acknowledges that an additional primary school will be needed because the estimated growth envisages that an extra 253 primary aged children will be living in the catchment area by 2008.
The new school will initially be able to accommodate 210 places with the potential to add extra places to a maximum of 420 and the new school is intended to service the south of the project area since existing schools already fully cover the northern area. Its location to the south of the town square will put the school at the heart of the community and will be specifically designed so that an integral part will provide a dual use as part of the Borough Councils proposals to extend the role of schools. It was originally expected that a new secondary school would be needed but successful capital bids to DfES will give the Borough of Telford & Wrekin extra funding to extend the Phoenix secondary school to provide additional places.
The Borough Council now considers that a new secondary school is not necessary for the foreseeable future since current projections do not demonstrate that housing growth will generate the sort of numbers of 700 – 800 places that would justify the need. The report acknowledges though that the provision of sufficient places for secondary school pupils within Lawley needs to be carefully addressed.
HEALTH CARE The provision of adequate health care able to cope with population growth is one of the main issues raised through consultation. It is proposed to extend Newdale Medical Practice in order to service demand. In addition, there are plans to extend the Princess Royal Hospital so that a good quality of health care for the local community can be maintained.
SUSTAINABLE URBAN EXTENSION English Partnerships says that “Lawley will be delivered as a Sustainable Urban Extension as part of the Government’s Sustainable Communities agenda. It provides an exceptional opportunity for the public and private sectors to work together towards the delivery of this innovative project.” (English Partnerships, 2004)
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