Power station redevelopment decision

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Wednesday, 12 May 2021 18:52

By Alex Moore - Local Democracy Reporter

Picture: Harworth Group Plc / Pegasus Planning Group

Ironbridge's power station site redevelopment will be considered by councillors next week.

The plant’s four cooling towers were demolished in December 2019, and Harworth Group Plc has applied for outline permission for up to 1,000 homes and other facilities.
 
Telford and Wrekin’s Planning Committee will discuss the application next week, and council planning officers recommend they vote in favour.
 
The meeting will be the borough’s last chance to hold a binding vote on the plans, as Shropshire Council will get the final say on the cross-border application.
 
Telford and Wrekin cabinet member David Wright, whose brief includes housing and transport, said he was pleased to see planning officers recommendation included investment worth approximately £2.4 million, which would help “ensure traffic flow is well managed and directed away from Ironbridge to the major highway routes”.
 
Harworth’s application also includes provision of employment and retail space, allotments, sports pitches and other leisure facilities, a retirement village, a park-and-ride and a rail link.
 
Cllr Wright said measures were also proposed to ensure there were enough primary and secondary school places for new residents moving into the planned homes.
 
“Other measures have been recommended to ensure that flooding and environmental matters are dealt with sensitively and that we gain natural habitat and hedgerows for local wildlife,” he added.
 
In a report for the committee, planning officers write that Rotherham-based Harworth bought the Ironbridge site from Uniper UK Ltd in 2018, two-and-a-half years after the plant’s closure.
 
An identical planning application has been submitted to Shropshire Council and, if Telford and Wrekin grants outline permission on its side, Shropshire Council, as “lead authority for these cross-boundary applications”, would get to grant full permission on behalf of both, the report adds.
 
“The site is located in the parish of Buildwas, but is recognised as an intrinsic feature of the Ironbridge Gorge due to its setting within the landscape of the Gorge on the river,” it says.

“The site comprises land formerly utilised as Ironbridge A and B Power stations, together with associated uses.

“The scheduled monument, Buildwas Abbey, is located further west of the site on the other side of the A4169, and to the east of the site lies the Ironbridge Gorge World Heritage Site and Severn Gorge Conservation Area.

“On the eastern edge of the application site lies the grade II listed Albert Edward Bridge, which forms the westernmost limit of the World Heritage Site and Conservation Area.
 
“Whilst the majority of the former Power Station buildings will be demolished, within the north of the application site lies a 1930s pumphouse and the Station A bridge, which will both be retained.

“Both structures are related to the first phase of the power station which operated from the 1930s until the 1960s, when the plant was upgraded.

These structures represent the only extant buildings from this phase of the power station’s operation.

“In addition, the existing National Grid building will be retained as part of the redevelopment proposals, together with the Western Power Distribution switching station. These buildings are strategically important electricity infrastructure that will remain in operation and are therefore located outside of the red line planning application boundary.”
 
Telford and Wrekin Council’s nine-member Planning Committee is due to discuss the application when it meets at AFC Telford United’s New Bucks Head Stadium on Tuesday, May 18. It will be the council’s first physical meeting since March 2020.

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