Councillors have approved plans for 33 more homes on a new housing estate – despite concerns over local services being at 'breaking point'

Planning committee members at Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council voted to grant permission to the scheme on greenfield land off Bar Hill, Madeley.

Applicant Owl Homes previously secured approval for 155 homes on a neighbouring site earlier this year.

The site had been earmarked for 150 homes in Newcastle's local plan, and planning officers had recommended the new application for approval, saying it aligned with policy.

But Madeley Parish Council objected to the plans, raising concerns that the total number of homes proposed for the site would be 188 – well above the local plan allocation.

Parish committee chair Jamie Stephenson told the committee that the development would exacerbate existing problems with local infrastructure.

Cllr Stephenson said: "It's difficult to understand how an examiner of the local plan agreed that this site could take 150 houses – now we're 25 per cent higher than that

"Those increased numbers will put increased strain on already stretched services – drainage, education, health are all at breaking point in the area.

"The schools are full, the doctors are full, the road network can't cope. We've had two fatalities on road junctions in Madeley in just the last couple of years, and a third near-fatality just before last Christmas.

"These proposals don't seek to address those issues, even though they'll increase traffic volume by hundreds of vehicle movements every single day."

The committee voted to approve the application subject to a 106 agreement securing a £272,434 contribution towards local schools, £184,107 towards off-site public open space and a to-be-determined contribution to health services.

Highways officers did not object to the application, subject to conditions.

Planning officers told the committee that the additional 33 homes were being treated as 'windfall', meaning housing that has not been explicitly allocated in the local plan.

Windfall applications can be approved as long as they otherwise align with policy.

Jon Rowson, from Owl Homes, said the company aimed to complete the whole development by 2028.

He said: "We don't aim to sit on the site, we aim to develop the site and produce affordable and open market housing for the local community which is critical to the housing delivery figures.

"One thing that has to be accepted is the site is within the development boundary therefore the principle of development is acceptable."

Mr Rowson also pointed out that the site had previously been earmarked for an HS2 spoil area, which he suggested would have had a worse impact on the local area.

Committee member Mark Holland said he had 'grave reservations' over the plans, which he feared would be 'storing up problems for the future'. But he accepted there were no valid planning reasons to refuse permission.

He said: "Many of the concerns we could raise have already been raised and we are in a corner in the sense that if we have already approved that much on the site it's difficult to resist this next phase."