Express & Star

Hednesford Town FC homes FINALLY set to be built after new parking restrictions were proposed

Parking restrictions have been proposed to address concerns over plans to build more than 100 homes next to Hednesford Town Football Club.

Published
Hednesford Town's Keys Park

Taylor Wimpey has introduced measures that would allow drivers to park on roads on the spawling new estate for one an hour and not return for two.

But Councillor Paul Woodhead, who represents the area, has claimed the move could threaten the club’s future.

Under the new proposals residents would get a free parking permit to leave their cars outside their homes and receive a calendar marking the club’s match days.

The homes would go on derelict land – owned by the club – which surrounds the 6,039 capacity ground.

Taylor Wimpey has failed on two occasions to secure approval for its development at Keys Park Road.

A decision was deferred by the authority’s planning committee earlier this month after members raised concerns about parking.

The developer has added the parking measures ahead of the scheme going back before the committee on January 3.

Councillor Woodhead said: “The ground regularly gets 300 to 400 people going and many park on the land where the housing will go.

“The scheme will remove most of that parking. There are three main aspects. It could affect attendances and essentially the viability of the club. They need people to turn up.

“Secondly it will move people to streets further out. There are already people who park in the industrial estate and the on the grass verges and that will get worse.

“The third things is it will create an ongoing battle between residents and patrons of the football club.”

The developer has also reduced the scale of the plans from 123 properties to 119.

Council officers have recommended the plans for approval. No-one from the club was available for comment.