Lichfield Branch

All in all a successful year and we look forward to your continued support in 2023. Thank-you.

Sue Gurney IWA Lichfield Branch Treasurer

Planning

This report summarises the more significant of about 40 planning matters dealt with between mid-January and early April 2023. Further details are available on request. On the Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal just south of Milford Aqueduct a proposed change of use of farmland to two dog exercise fields includes high wire-mesh fencing for 400 metres along the towpath and a car park near the aqueduct. These would be visually intrusive to the open rural setting of the Listed aqueduct and the canal Conservation Area, and barking dogs could spoil the enjoyment of mooring here. We asked that the West Field with its fencing and parking be removed from the application and for tree and shrub planting to screen the East field.

Near Four Ashes, the first of the giant warehouses on the West Midlands Interchange site will now have its earth bund screening along Vicarage Lane installed before its first use, as we requested.

On the Trent & Mersey Canal at Riley Hill near Kings Bromley, the small marina at Wharf Farm now has permission for sales of fuel, pump-out and boating items but only to passing boats. Replacement of some of the private moorings by a maximum of 8 hire boats and 2 day-trip boats was also agreed. But the maintenance and repair of boats outside the workshop building was not allowed to safeguard the amenity of the neighbours.

At Barton Marina, a proposed two storey building housing 17 motel units on the north side of the marina basin would be in the same location and of similar design to 9 craft shops with offices permitted in 2014 and again in 2017 but not built. It would be more appropriate than the 20 ‘tourist pods’ in the adjacent woodland area also permitted in 2017 but not built. We had no objection to the motel units, but the adjacent moorings overlook and are overlooked by the motel rooms so should continue to be used for boat sales and not by moored boats in residential use. We were also concerned that a large wide-beam houseboat currently there was of a different design from the recent consent and in an unauthorised location.

In a separate application for The Waterfront public house there are plans to replace the ‘orangery’ part of the building by an extended conservatory with a balcony above.

Off Mill Stream Lane at Clay Mills in Burton upon Trent, a retrospective application was for retention of 8 containers and a large agricultural building on ground raised 1 metre by tipping. The large partly-built barn, ugly containers, untidy piles of soil and rubble and scattered vehicles on the site are all in a previously undeveloped field, very visible from the Trent & Mersey Canal and intrusive into the setting of its Conservation Area. Tipping to raise the land level in the flood plain has increased the flood risk to the canal embankment and Dove Aqueduct. We considered it should be refused, but if approved should be conditional on planting a new hedge along the actual site boundary with the field to help screen it from the canal.

By the Coventry Canal south of Hay End Lane at Fradley, the one field remaining between completed, approved or allocated housing developments is now inevitably also proposed for housing. However, the Outline layout and landscaping is acceptable, with footpath links to the towpath.

At Heath Gap, Fradley we objected to the size, design, and position of a very large house on a site approved in 2013 for a much smaller house set back from canal, but not built. Since then, the canal through Fradley has been extensively urbanised with more development planned, but this site is outside the village settlement boundary.

In Atherstone, just south of the top lock and the Britannia Works site, another derelict factory is proposed for replacement with a care-home. The large 3 storey block is designed like a canal warehouse with traditional small pane arched windows, with a glazed section, and set behind a canalside patio.

At Springwood Haven north of Nuneaton, the application for 11 holiday lodges has now been withdrawn.

At Tuttle Hill in Nuneaton, on the former quarry site approved for housing development, a proposed temporary use for 5 years as open storage could cause noise disturbance to the canal and acoustic screening should be provided over the canal bridge.

Near the Ashby Canal in a field west of Dadlington, a sculpture called The Storm Breaks is to be one of a series of artworks on the Bosworth 1485 Sculpture Trail linked by a walking route from Market Bosworth taking in a section of the Ashby Canal towpath, with a short new permissive path to the sculpture from the towpath. The sculpture will be largely screened from the canal by the existing hedge, although prominently visible from the road over Dadlington Wharf Bridge 30.

Near the Cannock Extension Canal at Norton Canes, the application for a go-kart track on Wyrley Common which was previously refused in 2020 was again recommended for refusal, partly because of its noise impacts on the residential canal boats, and has since been withdrawn.

By the Hatherton Branch at Oak Lane, it is proposed to demolish the old cottages close to the canal bridge and replace them with two bungalows set further back from the lane. We have supported this as it will ease the engineering challenge of replacing the lowered canal bridge deck to allow restoration of the canal. However, the proposed conifer hedging would shade and damage the existing towpath hedge, so we asked that instead the present hedge be strengthened with native deciduous trees and shrubs.

Alongside the Lichfield Canal at Tamworth Road in Lichfield, the long-running application for a very large care home and 15 houses has finally been refused. This was mainly because of its size and impact on an adjacent Listed Building, but the reasons also include concerns about its integration with the improved canal side infrastructure and its impact on the amenity and integrity of the Lichfield Canal.

Phil Sharpe Planning Officer