Vision for 1,600 homes at Rugeley Power Station site
A sprawling 1,600 home estate could be built on the Rugeley Power Station site, it has been revealed.
The news is a major boost to council development chiefs looking to allocate housing land for the next decade or so.
Only three months ago Cannock Chase’s planning officers declared it was too early to make any estimates for the site, but now their counterparts in Lichfield – which owns a chunk of the land – have revealed the plot’s potential saying it could accommodate a minimum of 800 properties but possibly double that figure.
But some councillors have stressed developers must strike the right balance and ensure the 372-acre site is divided up to accommodate businesses as well as homes in order to help replace the 150-odd jobs lost at the power station, which closed last year.
George Adamson, leader of Cannock Chase District Council, said: “It is a huge site but what we have been looking at is a mixed use, which would be part residential and part industrial split between Lichfield and Cannock Chase.
“We are likely to get the more industrial development and Lichfield will get the majority of the homes. But we will work together to ensure Rugeley’s housing need is met.”
Councillor Alan Dudson, who represents the area where part of the station sits, added: “We definitely need jobs created and we also need the infrastructure to accommodate both the housing and the jobs.
“I would like to see a large employer on there.
“It is important we achieve the right balance of houses and employment.
“If we are going to have factories on there and leisure facilities we need the parking, because there is minimal parking in Rugeley.
“But there is also a golf course, a fishing lake and tennis courts on there now so whatever the development is I would expect it to be like for like.”
The housing estimates have been published in Lichfield District Council’s latest ‘Local Plan Allocations’ document which earmarks sites for residential properties up to 2029.
Regarding the power station site it states: “Evidence has suggested that a range of between 800 and 1,600 homes could be delivered across the site of the former power station as part of a mixed-use development within both Lichfield and Cannock Chase districts.”
