Shropshire Star

Road widening condition for new Telford homes

Developers wanting to build four new homes in a Telford street will be ordered to widen the access driveway.

Published
Last updated

The scheme for four new houses with four or five bedrooms and three parking spaces each are proposed for land east of Bluebell Coppice, in Ketley.

It is due to receive planning permission but the applicants Vince and Kerry Whyte will be ordered to widen an “unsuitable” access drive after Ketley Parish Council said the single-track driveway was unsuitable.

The council has also raised concerns about the site having a "high risk of potential contamination from landfill”.

Telford and Wrekin Council planning officers recommend approval, but will impose a road-widening condition and note that it is the landowner’s and developer’s responsibility to ensure the land is uncontaminated.

A report for the committee says: “The application site itself is located at the end of a small cul-de-sac to the rear of two detached properties.

“The site would be accessed via the private driveway which currently exists between Bluebell Coppice and Meadow Rise.

“Widening works would need to be undertaken to achieve an access where two vehicles could pass.”

Decision

Ketley Parish Council objects to the plans and their reasons include the view that “a private driveway is not suitable as an access for four dwellings”.

They also believe the proposed site “has a high risk of potential contamination from landfill”.

Telford and Wrekin Council’s highways department supports the application but recommends that “widening should be undertaken prior to the commencement of development”, the report says.

“A concern has also been raised with regards to risk of contamination from landfill.

“The Environment Agency have been consulted on the application, however no comments have been received.”

Government planning policy places responsibility on landowners and developers to establish whether a site is affected by contamination, so it is not part of the planning decision.

“Furthermore, this is an issue which will require building regulations approval,” the report adds.

Telford and Wrekin Council’s nine-member planning committee will discuss the plan in the near future.