A NEW housing and employment development in Lichfield could be partially occupied before major junction works are carried out.
Indurent and Persimmon Homes West Midlands already have planning permission for a housing and industrial scheme on land off Cricket Lane.
As part of that approval, a condition meant that improvements needed to be made at the A38 Swinfen junction “before the first occupation or use of any buildings” on the development.
The changes would see an additional lane created on the roundabout, new filter lanes off the A38 northbound and signals on the junction to control traffic flow.
But now the developers say an amendment is needed to allow for some of the site to be used before the road improvements are completed.
A planning statement said:
“The applicant is awaiting technical approval by National Highways. Detailed design and programming of delivery is well advanced, however it is understood that construction would being in late summer 2025 and take 89 weeks to complete.
“This means that the works would not be completed until early 2027.
“The current condition wording prevents any occupation of either the consented residential or employment areas until the Swinfen Island works are complete.
“The timescale for delivery is not in control of the applicant, given that National Highways has to manage works on the A38 corridor, including HS2-related works which have been extended until summer 2025. The Swinfen Island works could not take place while nearby HS2 works are going on.
“At present, this means that both the delivery of 520 homes and 44,91 sq m of high-quality employment floorspace cannot progress at pace due to this restrictive wording.”
Persimmon has begun work on the residential section of the development and hopes to have the first homes occupied by this August as part of a plan for 130 homes to be completed by August 2027.
Indurent is also hoping to complete the first of three buildings by September 2026.
The companies now hope to amend the condition meaning the junction works would not need to be completed until 130 homes and 18,157 sq ft of residential space are occupied.
The statement added:
“The applicant has engaged with the local planning authority and National Highways to explore a pragmatic solution to ensure the continued delivery of the Swinfen Island improvements, while adjusting the pre-occupation trigger to enable development required.
“While the wording technically permits the alteration of the trigger point by written agreement, it has been agreed with the local planning authority that this application is submitted for transparency.”
Full details can be found on Lichfield District Council’s planning website.
No more new homes in Lichfield we need time to settle and to catch up with facilities
And we definitely don’t need any more hairdressers.
We need new sports facilities,schools and doctors before any more large housing estates
And roads with no potholes as the roads are appalling.
Putting the cart before the horse. Why am I not surprised.
Tell them to go forth. Stick to the original conditions, otherwise what’s the point !!
89 weeks to complete a junction upgrade!! Why do construction projects take so long?
Lichfield is being destroyed. Who approved the removal of the hedgerows on this site? Sad.
Could it be another chaos like the Walton bridge in Walton on Trent ? Developers were given permission for a housing estate on on the old Drajelow site as long as they built a new bridge at Walton to avoid congestion ; guess what the houses are built but NO sign of a new bridge apart from the new road to where it will eventually built ? Council hoodwinked by developers again ? At least it’s not Lichfield council for a change ? By the way how’s the new access road to the Watery lane site from Streerhay coming along ?
Time now for the councillors to show some real backbone for once and to stand up to these developers and say NO! These plans, as bad as they are, were passed on condition that access was sorted before properties occupied. If the council backs down now and lets the developer do what it wants then all hope for Lichfield is really lost.
I think it’s fair to say, and unless anyone of notable power in Lichfield can us prove otherwise (please, please prove us all wrong in the comments), that the obliteration, the homogenisation of Lichfield continues. You take a quintessential British town, unique in all its idiosyncrasies, and destroy it. Remove everything that made it appealing, unique and worthy of its history, and build on it. You over-develop it into the ground based on its desired qualities, stand back and call that progress. That ain’t progress. It’s policy.
@ Duncan Dooley. I could not agree more. Not from an attitude of Not in My Back Yard, but from a sense of responsibility to an ancient city with a unique history. Yes some development has to be made in a controlled way but what we have experienced is a deluge. Inevitably this will have exponential consequences as families in these developments grow up and want their own new houses.
Your polemic comments are real and undeniable and better received than my contribution which was not published.
It is not about ‘much needed housing’ it is profiteering from once held respect for the gift from our forebears. Many other towns and cities have been able to preserve their integrity… sadly not Lichfield.
One of the main requirements is that we have a proper infrastructure such as improved roads. If the council allow this then it shows they do not care about problems of traffic flow. With regard to schools I understand that birth rate is falling and that the issue of school places will not be a major problem. What I am concerned about is that there no plans for a new GP practice. Can the councillors explain on here why they are not insisting that plans for a GP practice. Our present GP practice will eventually be over subscribed
Mike Maybury they can build as many surgeries as they like but where are the doctors to put in them