Pictured: Ian Romano
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."