Plans to build more than 70 new homes on land on the edge of a North Staffordshire village have been rejected by councillors.

Planning officers at Stafford Borough Council concluded that the land between the Trent and Mersey Canal and Old Road, Barlaston, was "Grey Belt" land.

But MP Dr Allison Gardner, Barlaston Parish Council and Swynnerton Parish Council said the site was in the Green Belt.

There were also 150 objections from residents, who said the proposals would be inappropriate development in the Green Belt and lead to Barlaston merging with Trentham.

The application was recommended for approval by planning officers.

It was called in for consideration by the borough council's planning committee by ward councillor Gareth Jones on the grounds of "development in the Green Belt" and "development outside of the Barlaston Plan".

Stephen Harris, who spoke in support of the application at Wednesday's planning commitee meeting (September 30), said: "The site is designated Green Belt, but the council hasn't updated its Local Plan and therefore, according to national policy, if the land is deemed to be Grey Belt the principle is deemed to be acceptable.

"For sites outside settlement boundaries, if the site meets the Grey Belt category permission should be granted.

"There is substantial shortfall in deliverable housing land in the borough; this site is coming forward to deliver 36 affordable homes and 36 market homes, so that will help address that urgent need.

"Barlaston is a key service village so it is clearly a sustainable location."

A statement from Councillor Jones, which was read out at the meeting, said: "My main concern is that the committee is being asked to approve principle of development on this scale without enough evidence to judge its effects on heritage and village character.

"The site lies between the Trent and Mersey Canal Conservation Area and within the setting of Grade II Listed Barlaston Hall.

"I recognise the need for new homes and affordable housing. But those benefits do not remove the need to properly assess heritage harm, or to show that the scale of the development can be accommodated without damaging the village's character."

The application, put forward by Inglewood Investment Company Limited, originally sought permission for up to 81 new homes. This number was later reduced to up to 72 homes.

A previous application for 42 affordable homes was refused permission by Stafford Borough Council in 2022.

The authority said it had not been demonstrated that a need existed for the development in that location and "by reason of its excessive size and scale" it was "not considered to fall under the definition of a rural exception site".

Committee member Councillor Scott Spencer proposed that the latest application be refused as the application site makes a strong contribution to the purposes of the Green Belt in checking the unrestricted sprawl of large built-up areas, and therefore cannot be considered a Grey Belt site.

He said: "Barlaston is a village, however it is on the edge of Stoke-on-Trent. The northern boundary of this field, you could argue, is approximately 400m from the edge of Stoke-on-Trent.

"Therefore this field acts as a significant buffer in the Green Belt for Stoke-on-Trent merging into Barlaston. I have significant reservations and I think that it should remain as Green Belt."