ST. MODWEN UPDATES PROPOSALS FOR SOUTH BRANSTON SITE

Regeneration specialist St. Modwen has updated plans for a proposed development to the south of Branston, Burton-on-Trent.

The developer has announced that following informative feedback received from the local community to its outline proposals for the site, it is now sharing with the community revisions to the masterplan and key aspects of the scheme, before submitting a planning application to East Staffordshire Borough Council.

400 Branston residents will this week be posted an eight page booklet outlining St. Modwen’s adaptations to its original proposals with the changes also available to view online at www.stmodwen-branston.co.uk.

Bounded by the A38 and the River Trent, St. Modwen is proposing the creation of new employment space and homes with associated open space on the 280 acre site.  The proposals include the creation of up to 660 new homes in a variety of sizes, plus the development of new employment space, including manufacturing, storage and distribution units.  The developer is also keen to retain large areas of open space for recreational use, while enhancing and extending the existing public footpaths and links to the Trent Valley Way.

Following a public consultation held in the village in June, St. Modwen has made a number of revisions to its planning application in direct response to community feedback.  Key areas that have been addressed by the St. Modwen team include parking, traffic and access, flood risk and land contamination.

Major masterplan changes made by St. Modwen include the reduction of over 80,000 sq ft of new employment buildings and increase in the proportion of four and five bedroom family homes to around 300 properties.  The second vehicular access to the new housing development via Gate Inn off Main Street has also been removed as a result of feedback received at the public consultation.

In response to issues raised with regard to access, parking and local highways, St. Modwen has undertaken extensive traffic modelling work to ensure appropriate mitigation schemes are in place.  This includes the creation of a new local centre square in the heart of Branston providing a formalised parking area for around 50 cars, aimed at alleviating many of the existing parking issues during the school day. 

St. Modwen has developed an area wide Travel Plan for the proposed development, including measures to significantly improve public transport provisions in the local area plus a series of measures to promote and encourage sustainable transport accessibility.  A full Transport Assessment report will form part of the planning application. 

The St. Modwen team has also met with Staffordshire County Council Education Department to discuss the impact of the proposed development on local schools.

A number of flooding and land contamination questions were also raised at the public consultation.  Both of these areas have been thoroughly addressed in detail by St. Modwen as required by the statutory authorities.  St. Modwen continues to work with the Environment Agency (EA) to ensure a scheme which will have no adverse effect on the site or the surrounding area.

Ian Romano, senior development surveyor for St. Modwen commented:  “We were delighted to see over 200 people attend the public consultation regarding our proposals for Branston.  The feedback we received both at the event and via our website is proving invaluable in helping us to shape the planning application prior to its submission and we would like to thank everyone who has taken time to respond to our outline proposals.”

Further information on St. Modwen’s proposals for Branston can be found at www.stmodwen-branston.co.uk