Plans for 650 homes and country park revealed

Plans to build about 650 homes in fields on the edge of Newcastle-under-Lyme have been unveiled.

Land promotion company Richborough is proposing the scheme off Whitmore Road next to Newcastle-under-Lyme Golf Club, as well as a new country park.

The initiative would feature two, three, four and five-bedroom homes, with 30% of the properties affordable.

Richborough, which is carrying out a pre-application consultation, said the development would help address local demand for housing while also boosting the economy and providing publicly accessible green space.

The site has been earmarked for 550 homes in Newcastle's draft local plan, although this document has yet to be approved.

Land to the southwest of the site, next to the M6, would be turned into a country park with allotments and a community orchard and would be retained within the green belt.

Vehicles would have access via two new junctions on Whitmore Road, with a proposal to reduce the speed limit from 40mph to 30mph and provide a new pedestrian crossing.

Land will be set aside for a future road linking Whitmore Road with Keele University.

Plans included "extensive areas of green infrastructure", including a publicly accessible country park to the southwest of the site "which will be accessible for all", the consultation document stated.

It added various "children's equipped play areas will be included, in addition to providing pedestrians and cyclists with connections to the wider network of open space and key routes".

Richborough said the development would result in increasing spending in local shops, while also creating jobs in the construction phase.

Its consultation on its proposals will run until 7 December, with a planning application set to be submitted before the end of the year.

Newcastle borough council's draft local plan is subject to a further round of consultation, after a number of changes were made.

The local plan, which will guide all development in the borough up to 2040, is expected to be adopted by the authority next year.

This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service which covers councils and other public service organisations.

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