Planning U-turn on way over new Stafford homes
Controversial plans to build homes that were previously refused are set to be given the go-ahead.
Stafford Borough Council planning officers have recommended that the plans for 80 apartments close to the town centre now be given the green light.
A four-storey and five-storey building will include homes for people aged 55 and above on the corner of Lammascote Road and Riverway.
The plans were first submitted by Panacea Property Developers Ltd in June 2017.
After concerns were raised over the building’s proximity to the road, parking issues, height and appearance, Panacea bosses were asked to alter the scheme.
Revised plans, which were recommended for approval, went before the planning commitee in January.
However, a council design advisor ruled that they were ‘largely unchanged’ and the scheme was refused.
The plans have now undergone ‘sufficient modification’, and will go back before councillors on Wednesday. They have again been recommended for approval.
In a report a planning advisor states: “Unlike the previous design alteration, which I considered to have been a substantively retrograde step architecturally to the original design, this current design has undergone sufficient modification to ameliorate my previous concerns.”
Borough councillor and planning committee member, Christine Baron, said: “Residents were opposed to the plans and even said they looked like a prison.
“I hope the developers have taken this all into consideration and made the relevant changes because it would be a shame if the plans were refused again.
“I do not like to refuse plans unless it is necessary and last time it was necessary.”
The site was previously home to Staffordshire County Council.
