ECCLESHALL PARISH COUNCIL – PLANNING COMMITTEE MINUTES

October 15^th 2025

A meeting of Eccleshall Parish Council Planning Committee was held on October 15^th 2025, at Offley Hay Village Hall at 8.15pm, following the Parish Council meeting.

 217/25).   Present were:

Councillor B. Delanchy (Chairman)          Councillor G. Dale

Councillor R. Langford                                Councillor S. Kean

Councillor P. Jones                                     Councillor D. Hill

Councillor M. Gosling                                 Councillor S. Perren

Councillor A. Reid                                        Councillor R. Taylor

Councillor C. Ryan-Bloor

Mrs Stacey Worden (Clerk)

One member of the public

 218/25).  Apologies:

Apologies were received from Cllrs. Hall, Feneysey, Mifflin and Wilkins.

 219/25).  Declarations of Interest and Councillor requests for dispensation relating to items on the agenda

There were no requests to receive, and no declarations of interest were made.

 220/25).  Public Participation

There was no public participation.

 221/25). To approve the minutes of the Planning Committee held on 1^st October 2025

The minutes, which had been previously circulated, were agreed and signed.

 222/25).  Planning Decisions of Stafford Borough Council

There were no planning decisions made since the last meeting.

223/25)   Planning Applications for consideration

Cllrs. Reid and Jones abstained from voting on planning applications to avoid any conflict of interests due to duties within Stafford Borough Council.

25/41015/OUT– Outline planning permission with details of access for the development of up to 55 dwellings (Use Class C3) with associated infrastructure. Land To the South of Shaws Lane Eccleshall.

the Parish Council’s Planning Consultant from UVE Consultancy joined remotely at this point to provide advice on this application.

Members received and considered the draft representation prepared by UVE consultancy, which detailed material consideration to be reviewed in relation to this application. The report also provided a series of bullet points for use by residents wishing to send in their own responses to the Borough Council.

It was resolved to object to this application.

Key points highlighted in the report included:

• Paragraph 12 of the National Planning Policy Framework, December 2024 makes clear that “The presumption in favour of sustainable development does not change the statutory status of the development plan as the starting point for decision-making.”
• The proposed development is outside of the settlement boundary and does not meet the criteria for rural exception or development in the countryside. The proposed development is encroachment and sets a precedent, leading to further incremental encroachment into the open countryside.
• Acceptance of greenfield development would create further challenges to the viability of vacant brownfield or allocated housing sites within the borough.
• The scheme harms the rural and village character of the area, encroaching into the open countryside.
• There are already infrastructure deficiencies including health, transport, drainage and secondary education. The proposal must be assessed in the context of other applications and allocations; if infrastructure is already under stress, additional development will obviously exacerbate problems.
• The proposed development in the open countryside would cause harm to sensitive landscapes as identified in the SBC mapping in the Landscape Sensitivity Study, which identifies this area as having limited capacity for development.
• The proposed form and layout, even with mitigation, would result in intrusive visual impact, owing to the prominent location on a hilltop, flanked by open countryside.
• The scheme would involve the loss of mature established hedgerows and trees, eroding the settlement edge, harming the rural character of the area and leading to the loss of valuable habitats, wildlife corridors and biodiversity. The Arboricultural Assessment confirms that substantial amount of established mature hedgerows are for removal, including the largest stretch at 113m.
• The loss of hedges and widening of the rural lane changing the character of the rural lane to put in a footpath and kerbs ‘urbanising’ the edge of settlement.

Councillors also resolved to include:

• Further information on the flooding issues and the impact of the development on greenfield land that will increase flow of water towards the town centre and further exacerbate existing surface water flooding issues.

The Clerk will contact Severn Trent to request wording for a condition to include in the submission, noting that developers need to provide a sufficient contribution or increase drainage capacity so as not to exacerbate the current flooding issues in the town centre. This statement can be submitted as an addendum to the main objection response if not received in time.

Concerns were again raised about the lack of supporting major infrastructure and the need for approved developments to contribute to a pot of money for the infrastructure requirements that would not be met by any one small development, such as road congestion issues, parking and drainage upgrades, and for this money to be ringfenced specifically for use in Eccleshall. It was suggested that Stafford Borough Council could be invited to a meeting to advise how this could be managed.

The Parish Council was advised that if the decision was made in favour of the development, it is important to state any requests prior to determination, so that they could be considered and incorporated into the approved application. This action would not affect the impact of the submitted objection.

Requests for inclusion in the submission were:

• On site provision of a car park of approximately 20 spaces, with a permeable surface (with the condition that runoff would be no greater than that of greenfield), to be used primarily to support short stay school parking at drop off and collection times.
• Resurfacing of the Community Centre car park, with a permeable durable surface.
• Upgrading of public Right of Way 13 between Church Street and Shaws Lane to promote pedestrian use.

A detailed submission with supporting evidence will be submitted to the Borough Council. Further points as discussed above will be added to the final draft.

25/41016/OUT – Outline planning permission with details of access for the development of up to 48 dwellings (Use Class C3) with associated infrastructure. Land South of Campion Close Eccleshall. The Borough Council has granted an extension to the response deadline, so it was resolved to defer this to the 5^th November planning meeting.

25/40908/FUL – Change of use of marginal unproductive agricultural land to the siting of six luxury glamping pods for tourism together with associated access, parking, services and landscaping. Land At Clayalders Bank Standon.

It was resolved to object to this application for two reasons:

• Highways grounds – the location is unsuitable for increased traffic, it is a single-track lane with few passing places, blind corners, poor condition and in the summer has frequent agricultural traffic
• Loss of residential amenity due to external lighting, increased noise and traffic.

25/41030/HOU – Ground floor side extension and first floor dormer. 7 Trinity Road Eccleshall. There were no objections to this application.

224/25).  To consider any further applications

25/41172/HOU – Ground floor front, side and rear extensions, increase in roof height. Outlane Walton Hurst Lane Eccleshall.

It was resolved to object to this application as the proposed extension exceeded 70% of the original dwelling, in accordance with Policy C5, (C) Extensions or Alterations of The Plan for Stafford Borough.

225/25).   Any Other Planning Matters

• To provide any other updates on the work to date with Urban Vision Enterprise planning consultancy
  • UVE are working on the submission for application 25/41016/OUT, land off Campion Close application which will be presented to the council at the meeting on the 5^th A draft will be discussed with the working group on the 24^th October.
• A request was made to amend the funding decision with regards to the allocation of £1,000 for printing of the planning representation information, provided by the consultant, for distribution to residents by Save Eccleshall representatives. The printed document was to comprise of the consultant summary together with separate, independent information from the Save Eccleshall group. It was requested that the Parish Council fund printing of the Save Eccleshall letters without the inclusion of the consultant guidance due to group concerns over the response deadlines, and the time needed to distribute the letters.

Members discussed this as length – the council is strongly supportive of the efforts of the group but agreed that the funding was approved to disseminate the professional advice and wording that is endorsed by EPC.

It was noted that in addition to the three-week consultation period there is further scope for submission post deadline and pre-determination, when representations will still be considered so there is more time for distribution.

The council resolved that printing that is directly invoiced and provided by the Parish Council should incorporate an initial page(s) of EPC endorsed key points, provided to the group, for circulation with the information generated by the resident group. The EPC agreed document will be clearly identified to avoid any issues that could suggest endorsement of the independent content by the Council.

It was suggested that if the group wish to undertake activities independently of the council and not include the EPC consultant’s advice, a grant application could be submitted, if the group has its own constituted bank account to receive the funds.

226/25).   Correspondence

• There was no correspondence for consideration.

227/25).    Date and venue for next meeting

Wednesday 5^th November 2025, at Eccleshall Community Centre, 7.30pm.

There being no further business, the Chairman declared the meeting closed at 9.55pm.