ECCLESHALL PARISH COUNCIL – PLANNING COMMITTEE MINUTES

March 18^th 2026

A meeting of Eccleshall Parish Council Planning Committee was held on March 18^th  2026, at Eccleshall Community Centre at 8.45pm, following the Parish Council meeting.

   59/26).   Present were: –

Councillor B. Delanchy (Chairman)          Councillor A. Reid

Councillor P. Jones                                      Councillor D. Feneysey

Councillor S. Perren                                    Councillor S. Mifflin

Councillor C. Wilkins                                  Councillor G. Dale

Councillor S. Kean                                       Councillor R. Langford

Councillor R. Taylor                                     Councillor D. Hill

Councillor D. Hall

Mrs Stacey Worden (Clerk)

One member of the public

  60/26).   Apologies

Apologies were received from Cllrs. Gosling and Ryan-Bloor.

  61/26).  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.

  62/26).  Public Participation

A member of the public spoke in opposition to application 25/41542/OUT for up to 150 dwellings off Shaws Lane. Concerns raised included the loss of good quality agricultural land for food production; the impact on the Red Kite, which hunts over the fields and has nested within the wider area; and the unsustainable increase in traffic volume along the narrow Shaws Lane.

  63/26). To approve the minutes of the Planning Committee held on 4^th March 2026

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

  64/26).  Planning Decisions of Stafford Borough Council:

25/41586/LDC – Lawful development certificate: Confirmation of commencement of

development for 22/36378/FUL. Approved.

25/41508/TCA – Eccleshall Conservation Area: Ash (T1) – Suffering from ash dieback,

remove and replace with Beech. The Old Vicarage Church Street. Approved.

25/40972/HOU – Replacement windows, move existing stone wall to create a fourth

parking space. Retention of replacement garden fence. In conjunction with 25/41067/LBC.

Green Hay Barn Pershall Lane Eccleshall. Refused.

25/41103/FUL – Installation of 5 prefabricated fishing lodges and associated works including foundation base, timber decking and balustrade and foul water drainage system. Badenhall Swynnerton Road Sturbridge. Approved.

26/41781/TCA – Eccleshall Conservation Area: Sycamore – Fell to ground level, due to a combination of a basal cavity, presence of Honey Fungus and phototropic growth towards busy highway. Ashcroft 1 Stafford Road. Approved.

  65/26)   Planning Applications for consideration:-

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

25/41542/OUT– Outline planning application with all matters reserved (except access) for the erection of up to 150 residential dwellings (Use Class C3) with associated public open space, landscaping, sustainable urban drainage, parking, access roads, and associated development. Land North Of Shaws Lane Elford Heath.

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.

Members agreed to highlight issues raised by the resident to include the details about the Red Kite. Traffic impact and agricultural land value was already included in the representation. Additional detail was included in relation to drainage and lack of pedestrian access to Elford Heath recreational space.

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 would set a precedent, leading to further incremental encroachment into the open countryside and result in the loss of high value landscape, biodiversity corridors and have a negative impact on the wildlife and flora and fauna. It would also harm the rural and village character of the area, encroaching further 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 development of the site would result in the loss of Grade 3a ‘best and most versatile’ agricultural land.
• The application involves the loss of established mature hedgerows and includes significant deficit in watercourse BNG with a predicted 79.89% loss, resulting in a significant loss to the habitats and wildlife these areas support.  The development would have an overall substantial detrimental impact.

• There are already infrastructure deficiencies relating to school places, public transport, highway capacity and drainage. The proposal must be assessed in the context of other applications and allocations; infrastructure is already under stress, additional development will obviously exacerbate problems.
• The proposed development, even with mitigation, would result in intrusive visual impact, owing to the prominent location on a hilltop, flanked by open countryside.
• Development on previously undeveloped land will have a negative impact on surface water drainage and the wider water and flood management of the locality. Surface water flood issues are already a significant problem for Eccleshall, and this will exacerbate these by reducing the capacity for natural surface water management in the catchment area for the River Sow.
• The development would result in harm and loss of heritage assets within the application site.
• The removal of hedges along Shaws Lane to facilitate the access would change the character of the rural lane, ‘urbanising’ the edge of settlement.

• There is no pedestrian footway or active travel route from the proposed entrance to the existing village or recreational spaces.  Therefore, it is unsustainable in terms of highways considerations.
• It is contrary to national, Local Plan and Neighbourhood Plan policies as set out later in the representation.

26/41712/HOU – Erection of single storey rear extension and renovation and amendment works to existing barn outbuilding for use as garage car store and workshop. Ankerton House Ankerton Lane Sturbridge. There were no objections to this application.

26/41863/OUT – Outline Application with all matters reserved for construction of two new dwelling-houses and associated landscape works. Brockton Hall Brockton Lane Eccleshall. There were no objections to this application.

  66/26).  To consider any further applications:-

There were no further applications for consideration.

  67/26).   Any Other Planning Matters: –

• To provide an update on the work to date with Urban Vision Enterprise (UVE) planning consultancy:

There were no further updates to report. It was noted that it may be beneficial to submit addendums to the original representations should any further documentation be submitted that supports the refusal of the applications. The application documents on the Borough Council portal continue to be monitored for opportunities.

  68/26).   Correspondence:-

• There was no correspondence for consideration.

  69/26).    Date and venue for next meeting:

Wednesday 1^st April 2026, at Eccleshall Community Centre, at 7.30pm

There being no further business, the Chairman declared the meeting closed at 9.35pm.