ECCLESHALL PARISH COUNCIL – PLANNING COMMITTEE MINUTES

November 5^th 2025

A meeting of Eccleshall Parish Council Planning Committee was held on November 5^th 2025, at Eccleshall Community Centre at 7.30pm.

 228/25).   Present were: –

 Councillor B. Delanchy (Chairman)          Councillor C. Ryan-Bloor

 Councillor R. Langford                                Councillor M. Gosling

Councillor P. Jones                                     Councillor D. Hall

Councillor C. Wilkins                                  Councillor S. Mifflin

Councillor S. Kean                                       Councillor D. Feneysey

Councillor G. Dale                                       Councillor D. Hill

Councillor S. Perren                                    Councillor R. Taylor

Mrs Stacey Worden (Clerk)

Two members of the public

 229/25).  Apologies

Apologies were received from Cllr. Reid.

 230/25).  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.

 231/25).  Public Participation

A member of the public spoke to raise concerns a number of concerns, including:

• Stafford Borough Council’s practice of uploading resident objections to the portal in bundles, making it more difficult to determine the total number of objections received.
• The Call for Sites plan for sites ECC02 (Bellway) and ECC01( Bloor) and ECC07 lists the sites as grazing land as opposed to agricultural, which does not give an accurate representation of the value of the land and the parish council should ask for this to be corrected by the Borough Council.
• Implementation of an overall strategic plan for Eccleshall is essential to shape appropriate levels of development. The resident asked if there had been progress made by County Cllr. Pert following his strategic plan consultation undertaken some time ago.
• The resident noted that as part of the planning response options on the portal, he felt there was a key option to choose which states ‘refusal of permission because the effects of the development cannot be dealt with by amendments or conditions.’
• The transport studies submitted by the same developer are considering the impact of each proposal in isolation, which is misleading and the cumulative effects should be considered. It was suggested that an independent traffic study should be undertaken to consider cumulative impact and on a wider scale, to encompass critical points such as the M6 roundabout at Creswell and the approach to.

Another member of the public raised concerns about the piecemeal approach to application decision making and stressed the importance of submitting responses that looked at the cumulative effects and to have a strategic approach.

 232/25). To approve the minutes of the Planning Committee held on 15^th October 2025

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

 233/25).  Planning Decisions of Stafford Borough Council:

25/41087/TCA – Eccleshall Conservation Area: Cedar – Use rope access to dismantle canopy down to top of main trunk and leave monolith. Beech – Fell tree and chip arisings. Eccleshall Castle Castle Street Eccleshall. Approved.

25/41089/TCA – Eccleshall Conservation Area: Sycamore – Dismantle to ground using rope access and GRCS due to cavity at base of large limb overhanging car park, main entrance & BT lines. Eccleshall Cricket Club Chester Road Eccleshall. Approved.

25/40808/FUL – Proposed 20m x 57m sand and fibre all-weather outdoor arena.Hill Top Farm Little Sugnall Lane Little Sugnall. Withdrawn Application.

25/41165/TCA – Eccleshall Conservation Area: Conifer – Fell. Castle View Dental Spa 13 High Street Eccleshall. Approved.

 234/25)   Planning Applications for consideration:-

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

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 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 would set a precedent, leading to further incremental encroachment into the open countryside. 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.
• 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 form and layout, even with mitigation, would result in intrusive visual impact, owing to the prominent location in an elevated position, 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 of the site would result in the loss of grade 3a ‘best and most versatile’ agricultural land as demonstrated in the report ‘Agricultural Land Classification, December 2024’. 45% of the development is 3a, comprising the entire field adjacent to Newport Road located centrally in the development.
• The development fails to deliver it’s Biodiversity Net Gain requirements, resulting in a proposed deficit of -32.77% for Habitat units, which may increase further as the Preliminary Ecological Appraisal was not undertaken in an optimal period.
• The development would result in the loss of ‘ridge and furrow’ heritage asset, which forms part of the historic agricultural character Eccleshall.
• It is contrary to national, Local Plan and Neighbourhood Plan policies as set out later in the representation.

The document was discussed in detail, to include:

• Concerns on the clear deficit in relation to the Biodiversity Net Gain targets, which are likely to further decrease if the survey was repeated at a more appropriate time of year. It was agreed to include the statement that ‘Provision of any Biodiversity Net Gain should be delivered on site. Should this not be possible any off-site contributions should be made in close proximity to the site’.
• It was agreed to include more detail on the lack of available school places, referring to the Staffordshire County Council response which concludes there are insufficient school places available, which will require an additional primary and secondary school, with the cost of an additional secondary school estimated at around £38m.

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.

Additional requests for inclusion in the submission were:

• That a controlled junction or traffic island be integrated into the design to address the concerns related to highway safety and enable the safe ingress and egress from the site onto Newport Road.
• The Parish Council remain of the view that the greenfield site should not be developed. However, should the application be amended to remove the ‘Best and Most Versatile’ land that also includes the clearly defined heritage asset we may consider the principle of residential development that supports downsizing with bungalows or extra care housing to better reflect the needs of our rural community. It was noted by members that this consideration would not indicate or imply support for development of the site.

25/41120/OUT – Outline planning permission with details of access for the development of up to 71 dwellings (Use Class C3) with associated infrastructure and a country park | Land To The North The Burgage Eccleshall Stafford Staffordshire.

The Borough Council has granted an extension to the response deadline, so it was resolved to defer consideration of the response until the 19^th November planning meeting.

25/41086/FUL – Conversion of traditional agricultural barns to create nine dwellings. Broughton Folly Farm Eccleshall Road Broughton. There were no objections to this application.

235/25).  To consider any further applications:-

There were no further applications for consideration.

236/25).   Any Other Planning Matters: –

• To provide an update on the work to date with Urban Vision Enterprise (UVE) planning consultancy:
  • Hannah is working on the representation for the Burgage application, and members of the working group will meet with her on the 14^th Nov to discuss the draft document and circulate to members prior to the next committee meeting.
• To consider a grant application to support the work of the Save Eccleshall Community group:

It was resolved to approve the grant application for £1,500 to support the work of the group and to pay this immediately with the other items on the payments list for approval.

  237/25).   Correspondence:-

• Member noted receipt of correspondence from Bloor homes in relation to the upcoming planning application to be submitted for homes off Stafford Road. The letter details the proposed infrastructure offerings based on their consultation with the relevant authorities. A copy of the letter is on the Parish Council website for residents to view at https://eccleshallparishcouncil.gov.uk/local-information/planning/local-planning-updates/
• The council has received correspondence from Staffordshire County Council to advise that a private company has expressed an interest in siting a mobile phone tower to improve connectivity in the parish, available to all phone network providers. Council representatives are invited to an online meeting to discuss the proposal, what it would entail and discusss potential sites that would not be detrimental to the area and methods of community engagement. It is believed that the company is considering Croxton area, but are willing to hear our issues with reception in the High Street. It was agreed that Cllrs. Kean and Langford will represent the council, and the Clerk will also attend the meeting.

  238/25).   Accounts for payment:-

Authorisation was sought for payment of the following accounts:-

All were in favour, and the accounts will be paid accordingly. Cllrs. Taylor and Jones will process the approvals online.

 239/25).    Date and venue for next meeting:

Wednesday 19^th November 2025, at Eccleshall Community Centre, following a meeting of the Parish Council.

There being no further business, the Chairman declared the meeting closed at 8.45pm.