South Staffordshire College site approved despite traffic and safety concerns
Controversial plans for residential development on the site of South Staffordshire College have been approved. Concerns have previously been raised over the potential highways concerns involving traffic and safety.
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In August approval was given for the demolition of all six buildings on site for future residential development. Now the developer – Homes England – plans for 123 new homes and an 80 bed care home have been approved – with only one councillor voting against the plans.
The site will have 20 per cent affordable housing and would utilise existing access points off Croft Street with modifications to facilitate the residential use proposed. The highways department at Staffordshire County Council raised no objections to the plans.
Speaking in June 2024, Brendon Dale, Senior Planning Enabling Manager at Homes England told the planning committee: “The application represents an excellent opportunity to repurpose brownfield land which is in an excellent location within Tamworth and is a crucial step towards the transformation which will be in line with growth aspirations.”
Due to the scale of the development a number of section 106 contributions have been sought by the planning officers. Section 106 contributions are designed to mitigate the impact of the development on the local community.
Section 106 to be produced for the following contributions: £881,216.00 for education, set to be split with £522,144 for primary school places and £359,072 for high school places. A contribution of £127,626 for healthcare improvements and £10,000 for travel plan monitoring.
Concerns were raised by Sports England over the loss of a playing pitch. Despite this planning officers recommended that the plans be approved stating they were content provision is compensated elsewhere in the borough.
Councillor Richard Kingstone, who recused from the vote over speaking out against the plans, said: “What a shame! Last night the planning committee approved the outline planning application for 123 homes and an 80 bed care home on the site of the college in Croft Street.
“I’m not against the development of the site for homes. It is a great use of a brownfield site. My issue is the total lack of road infrastructure improvements. Our road network will not be able to cope without a major investment.”
