Stoke-on-Trent City Council is behind the Packmoor plan
Consultation event for the Packmoor masterplan
Residents are continuing to oppose council plans to build hundreds of homes on fields outside their village. Stoke-on-Trent City Council is carrying out a public consultation on its controversial masterplan for Packmoor, which could see up to 1,224 homes built on authority-owned farmland.
Council leaders insist their aim is to make life better in the area through improved infrastructure, including a new road linking Turnhurst Road and Outclough Road. But there is still widespread opposition to development on the land, due to concerns over the loss of green space and the impact on local roads and services.
The masterplan includes five different options, four of which would involve developing varying amounts of land, delivering between 760 and 1,224 homes. Many of those who attended a consultation event this week were in favour of the fifth option of ‘doing nothing’ and leaving the land as it is.
Packmoor resident Gillian Turrell believes the scale of development being proposed is too much, even under the option with the fewest homes.
She said: “They’re talking about building at least 760 homes, which is just far too many. If they’d come to us with with proposals for a smaller development with 100 or so homes we could have talked about that. But 1,200 homes would be four times the size of the Silverstone estate. It’s just too many.
“We’ve asked the council leaders to come and explain what they’re proposing, but they don’t come. We’ve invited the MP, the council leader and the cabinet member to meetings. At this consultation event there are just planning people who aren’t from Stoke-on-Trent.”
Graham Amison, who also attended the consultation event, does not believe the council, or its planning consultants from Tetra Tech, have properly addressed concerns over issues such as highways.
He said: “They need to put the infrastructure in first before they start talking about building homes here. Turnhurst Road can’t take any more traffic, and you can’t widen it. The relief road they’re proposing will only things worse because it will just create a new bottleneck junction.
“I know that we need to build more homes, but there are more suitable sites than this. I don’t think it will even be possible to build on parts of this land because the ground isn’t stable.
“We don’t feel that the council is really listening to us, and they’re going to do this whatever we say. These consultations just seem like a box-ticking exercise for them.”
But Andrew Clarke, a director at Tetra Tech, insists that there is a genuine desire to engage with local people. He said: “It’s important to note that this is a city council scheme. The public sector is in control of what happens on this site.
“We are hear to listen to what people in the community have to say about the masterplan.”
A previous engagement event found that the majority of residents in Packmoor were opposed to any development on the land, while more than 1,300 people signed a petition calling for the masterplan to be abandoned. The council says the masterplan addresses residents’ concerns and insists that the development will result in improved highways and connectivity, better local services and more accessible green spaces.
A second consultation event will take at Packmoor Ormiston Academy on Saturday 25 April, from 10am to 2pm. The consultation runs until Tuesday 5 May. To have your say, click here.
Get daily headlines and breaking news emailed to you – it’s FREE