ST. MODWEN SUBMITS NEW APPLICATION FOR BRANSTON
St. Modwen, the UK’s leading regeneration specialist, has submitted revised plans for the development of a mixed-use scheme at Branston with a view to easing construction traffic and avoiding a lengthy and costly planning inquiry.
The project aims to transform 175 acres of land south of Branston, to the west of the River Trent, with a key focus on job creation and high quality housing for local people in Burton and East Staffordshire. The original plans were refused by members at planning committee who cited highways safety both during construction and following the completion of development. Significantly however, there were no objections from the Highways Authority, the Highways Agency or the Environment Agency and the council’s own officers recommended the application for approval.
St. Modwen has now submitted a new application responding to members’ concerns, by focussing on easing construction traffic by building the new access onto the A38 to reduce construction traffic in Branston. As such, construction traffic will only be required to access the site via Main Street for the first residential phase comprising approximately 60 houses on land to the north of Main Street and 90 houses on land to the south (a maximum of 150 houses in total). Thereafter all construction traffic for the remainder of the development will access the site via the new A38 junction. In addition, St. Modwen will restrict construction traffic from accessing the site via Main Street during Ryknield Primary School’s pick up and drop off times. These early commitments will dramatically reduce construction traffic in Branston.
St. Modwen is also consulting with residents and ward councillors to alter the permanent access to the site from Main Street and Acacia Lane.
Ian Romano, senior development surveyor at St. Modwen said: “Our revised proposals will reduce dramatically the impact of construction traffic in Branston and combined with the proposed access to the site off Acacia Lane will help to address the concerns of residents and members on Planning Applications Committee.
“These proposals come at a time when the Council is pushing for more quality housing, which the land south of Branston will deliver. We hope to avoid a lengthy and costly planning inquiry for both the Council and St. Modwen and these latest changes reinforce our commitment to responding to local concerns. We hope this will enable members to approve the proposals, allowing us to move forward with the planned development, quickly responding to the interest we have already received from housebuilders.”
The Branston scheme comprises 770,000 sq ft of employment space in the manufacturing, storage and distribution sector, providing a range of units of varying size to the south of the development site with the potential to create around 1,500 new jobs locally.
The residential aspect of the proposals will provide a mix of up to 660 three, four and five bedroom family homes in a green setting, incorporating indigenous trees and open land alongside the River Trent.
