New homes heading to Rugeley after estate plans passed
Dozens of affordable homes will be built in Rugeley after plans were given the green light.
Cannock Chase Council's planning bosses approved the application for 79 houses on land between Wharf Road and Hardie Avenue this week.
The homes will have a mix of two, three and four bedrooms. And there will be 159 car parking spaces for the houses, along with an electric vehicle charging point for each house.
The site was developed as a school during the mid-20th century which is now a roughly level playing field.
Architects SP Faizey say in the plans: "As with the outline planning application it is proposed that an area of open space should form a central focus of the development layout on the western side of the site.
"In addition, the existing recreational footpath/cycle route (the Ravenhill and Brereton Way), that follows the line of the former railway line forming the western periphery of the Wharf Road site, will be improved as part of an open space landscape amenity corridor, approximately 10 metres in width. A separate footpath is proposed along the eastern boundary of the former school site linking through to Hardie Avenue.
"All 79 houses proposed are affordable housing and an Affordable Housing Statement prepared by The Wrekin Housing Trust is submitted with the application."
The site was granted outline planning permission in 2015 for 72 houses, which has since expired.
The news comes after the first stages of demolition of Rugeley Power Station have been carried out to make way for 2,300 homes, housing for the elderly, commercial buildings and a primary school on the site.
The outline planning applications for the homes, up to 1.2 ha of mixed-use buildings, five ha of employment land, a primary school, open space and key infrastructure has been approved by Cannock Chase Council and Lichfield District Council.
About 30 per cent of the homes are planned to be put aside for affordable housing, while a number will be made into homes for the elderly.
Full details of the plans are yet to be revealed, but owners of the former coal-fired power station Engie say they want the homes to be entirely powered by renewable energy.
Reserved matters application with finer details will have to be approved at a later date.
The plans say that construction is estimated to begin this year and to carry on until 2040.
