The site of the proposed housing in Streethay
The site of the proposed housing in Streethay

Streethay residents are being called to action once more – this time to stop a planned 850-home development near Lichfield.

Residents in the area have long campaigned to protect their village’s identity and believe the new housing scheme – on farm land on the north-east of Burton Road – will “wipe out the character of Streethay”.

The Streethay Against Development action group has now been set up and organisers have urged locals to attend an open meeting at 8pm tomorrow (April 21) at Lichfield Hockey Club on Eastern Avenue.

In a statement delivered to Streethay residents, the campaign group said:

“This is one of the most picturesque landscapes that Lichfield and its surrounds possess. The view from the village of the land rising towards the poplar trees and the horizon is magnificent. A development of this nature would effectively wipe out the character of Streethay which has, over the decades, consistently and in a graduated fashion absorbed growth and change in a way that has not prejudiced its heritage.”

The group says that other action groups in Lichfield are supporting the Streethay development, claiming that they hope it will limit the number of houses to be built in other areas of the district.

The meeting will offer residents a background to the proposal and will allow them to sign forms of objection to be passed on to Lichfield District Council.

A Streethay Against Development spokesperson added:

“Streethay does not have the roads, footpaths or infrastructure to absorb a settlement of such massive proportions. If anyone has any doubts, just think of that beautiful piece of farmland crammed with 850 houses towering so obviously over the village. If that is not enough, consider the additional traffic congestion and the dangers of the excessive traffic on the narrow main road with just one footpath.

“Please join this critical cause to save our village from this ruinous proposal.”

Founder of Lichfield Live and editor of the site.

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Warren
14 years ago

As someone who has been finding it hard to buy a house, groups like this frustrate me. This country drastically needs new housing stock to bring prices down and housing affordable to us “youngsters” (I use that term lightly).

People seem to like the idea but have the “not in my backyard” mentality. Give the problem to someone else. Where should these houses go?

Alan Cope
14 years ago

Whilst we all would agree that new housing stock is important, it is not the development that is in question but how this plan has been put forward and the size of the development. There are already houses planned on the old “Rail Track” site and an additional 850+ houses would quadruple the size of Streethay combine this with the lack of infrastructure, remember there is only one road through Streethay. This is a very busy road with narrow pathways and excessive speeding is the norm, combine this with lack of schools, shops, work places etc within the area would mean car trips would be necessary to take children to school or travelling to a place of work. Other areas have also been put forward within the City boundaries and they to are fighting against the size of developments on what could be termed as “green” land. Look around at Lichfield there are “brown” sites such as the old Hepworth site where access to a better road system, shops and Doctors are nearer at hand, surely it would make sense to utalise this type of land before destroying land used for growing crops.