Strategic Planning Context

The West Midlands Regional Spatial Strategy (WMRSS) identifies Stafford as a Settlement of Significant Development (SSD). The town has also been recognised as a Growth Point by central government and identified as an Impact Investment Location (IIL) in the Regional Funding Advice which prioritises investment in support of the strategy.

Following the recent Public Examination for the Phase 2 Revision of the WMRSS, the Examination Panel Report recommends the following development provisions for Stafford Borough over the period 2006 to 2026.

• 11,000 new dwellings Borough wide.
• An indicative figure of 8,000 for Stafford Town
• The potential for additional dwellings at Stafford to meet the Ministry of Defence's requirements
• Employment Land 5-year reservoir of 40 hectares (ha) with a total Long Term Requirement (2006-26) of  120ha

Some of this requirement for Stafford Borough already has planning permission or has been completed. Other sites are identified in the existing Stafford Borough Local Plan, and potential sites exist within the Residential Development Boundary or on previously developed land. However sites for approximately 6,000 new houses required in Stafford have yet to be identified, and these may need to be found on extensions to the town.

Ongoing studies have identified the western side of Stafford (between Doxey Road and Newport Road) as one of the locational options which could provide a significant proportion of the required housing.

An element of the employment land requirement in Stafford can be found by re-developing or extending existing employment areas. Previously developed land in the Castlefields area could provide some additional employment opportunities as part of a mixed-use development scheme.

A SATURN traffic model has been used to identify the most sustainable locations for urban extensions to the town to accommodate new housing. The options under consideration by Stafford Borough Council are shown on Plan x. From the evidence compiled to date, it appears that more than one direction of growth will be required to meet the RSS figures, with growth in the West as a potential location for 'greenfield releases'.

The impact of traffic likely to be generated by the level of new development described in the RSS has been modelled at the strategic level, for a future forecast year. These tests show that at peak times, demand to use key routes in the west of the town centre exceeds available capacity, resulting in severely congested conditions along A518 Chell Road - Broad Eye -Tenterbanks Victoria Road - Station Road and Newport Road.

Tests also show that providing a new highway in Western Stafford, to link Newport Road to Foregate Street will relieve the affected routes enabling key improvements to be made to public transport facilities and services in Chell Road.

Review the relative benefits of the four route options under consideration.

Sustainable transport schemes that encourage walking, cycling and greater public transport use have been delivered in the town since 2002 as part of the Stafford Urban Area Transport and Management Strategy (SUATMS), which runs to 2011.  An extended package of sustainable transport measures was formulated and tested to support the Stafford Growth Agenda. This centred on providing bus priority and on key town services to make public transport more attractive, but also included pedestrian priority and cycling schemes. Whilst significant benefits accrued, the economic efficiency of the package was scored significantly negative overall, due to the impact on other highway users, particularly business users.

Providing new highway capacity to the West of the town as part of the overall infrastructure package to deliver growth would offset these negative impacts. Moreover it would provide the means by which bus services could directly access new development proposals at Castlefields and Burleyfields and increase accessibility by active modes. By facilitating improved access to Stafford Station by all modes the scheme complements the improvement plans for Stafford Railway Station which seek to maximise the attractiveness of the rail mode.

The Stafford Western Access Improvements are therefore seen as key element of the integrated transport strategy which will be required to deliver growth in Stafford.

Definitions

Growth Point

The Growth Points initiative is designed to provide central Government support to areas with large scale and sustainable growth in housing provision with related infrastructure provision.

Settlements of Significant Development in the West Midlands region

These are nine areas outside the Metropolitan Area and the North Staffordshire conurbation, where strategic housing development is concentrated.

Impact Investment Locations

"Impact Investment Locations", are areas across the Region, where investment in transport, housing and economic development is seen to provide significant short and longer term positive impacts.

Last updated 9/11/2009 Last Modified: 12/08/2010 12:42:22
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