Residents fear streets could be choked by Oswestry housing development construction traffic
Hundreds of residents living in eastern Oswestry would see their roads choked by construction traffic if a new development goes ahead without a new access road being built, campaigners have warned.
Two large housing developments have been zoned for housing as part of the southern urban extension of the town, one for 150 homes the other for up to 600.
Developers have been told that to accommodate the traffic generated from the houses there will have to be a new spine road connecting Middleton Road and Shrewsbury road so traffic does not weave its way through the existing streets.
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But people living there are worried after a report by Shropshire Council highways officers mooted that the 150 house estate, put forward by Jennings Homes, could go ahead before the new road is constructed.
They say that the community infrastructure levy funds generated by the building of the homes would be used to construct the new road.
A report to planning officers says that the larger development could take many years to build and that it had been suggested that the full spine road would only be constructed when a trigger point of 325 homes was reached.
Mrs Susan Stewart who lives off Middleton Road said residents are worried.
"People who live around the Middleton Road, Ascot Way, Cabin Lane area are rightly concerned about potential years of construction traffic squeezing down unsuitable residential roads," she said.
"Parts of Middleton Road have no pavement and/or are one-way."
'Excessive'
She said the new developments would seriously affect the character of the quiet residential area
"The volume of local traffic combined with construction traffic and owners of the newly completed homes will be excessive for adjacent roads long before the 'trigger point' of 325 homes is reached, and the surrounding roads have pedestrians of all kinds, along with children playing out in existing residential quiet roads," she added.
"Middleton Road is only one way for the last section before it meets Cabin Lane and so traffic could not access the development that way."
Mrs Stewart said she wants Shropshire Council to meet with residents to acknowledge their concerns and address the need for a link road off Mile End to be put in place before building began.
Mark Wootton, highways area manager for Shropshire Council, said the highway authority would not object to the application, providing that there were conditions and a Section 106 financial contribution was made towards the building of the spine road.
"It is recognised at the outset that the delivery of the larger development may take a significant period to build," he said.
"It is on this basis that the current application seeks to form a separate vehicle access onto Middleton road, but with the ability to connect to the adjacent site at a date to be determined.
"Otherwise this site would in effect be landlocked and impact on the council's housing delivery in Oswestry until the link road is complete."
