Councillors at East Staffordshire Borough Council (ESBC) have granted permission for 108 homes to be built on Pinfold Street in Uttoxeter.

The homes will be built on brownfield land that was previously occupied by JCB's Bamford Works factory and the company is also the applicant behind the proposed housing development.

This application follows one which was agreed in April 2019 that permitted 148 homes on a larger plot which also included a piece of land that has now been used to build an Aldi supermarket.

Back in 2013 the same site was also part of an even larger scheme which ultimately fell through as the various land owners couldn't come to an agreement on the necessary contributions to fund local amenities.

Those proposals would've seen 257 homes as well as a supermarket and offices – but in the end a Waitrose store was the only element from those plans to come to fruition.

The latest set of plans cover a site that is designated in ESBC's local plan for housing, and it will see a new town park created as well as the re-naturalisation of Picknall Brook which runs through the proposed development.

Uttoxeter Town Council welcomed the plans, but has asked for bat boxes, as well as swift bricks and bee bricks be installed as part of the project.

The town council also called for the provision of hedgehog access points along the site boundaries.

Meanwhile, the county council's education department has requested that the developer contribute nearly £700,000 towards providing school places in the area and healthcare providers have requested just over £70,000 towards health facilities in the town.

Concerns were expressed in April 2019 about a lack of progress on getting houses built on the site – but to date no building work has taken place despite the site being cleared by JCB.