Severn Trent has outlined plans to sell off some of its green belt land in North Staffordshire to be developed into a new industrial estate which could create up to 1,000 jobs.
The water company is promoting circa 16 hectares of land to the north of its Strongford Sewage Works in Barlaston for employment use as part of Stoke-on-Trent City Council’s Draft Local Plan.
It says the measure is necessary if it is to secure the funds needed to build an access road from the sewage treatment plant onto the A34 Stone Road, which nearby residents have been campaigning for.
The proposed land is part of the wider BL2 site in the draft plan, which has been identified for a mix of 500 houses on land owned by Trentham Golf Club and 25,000 sq m of employment land.
Severn Trent, which has invested circa £1 million to secure the land, is also planning to release some of its land next to Newstead Industrial Estate for employment use.
The firm says regulatory framework means it is unable to spend customers’ money on building a new access road in and out of the Strongford site that is not required for operational purposes and that the council needs to allocate both sites in the local plan for employment if the access road scheme is to go ahead.
If the land is allocated for development, the land will be sold to a developer who will have to secure planning permission and deliver the industrial estate scheme, likely to be in 2031.
Robert Eaton, Senior Strategic Planning Manager for Severn Trent, said: “We know that the access at Strongford Sewage Treatment Works is a concern for residents, and we are doing our best to work with the council and make these changes.
“We’re in the early stages of these proposals, and to go ahead these need to be taken on by the local council and the site sold to a developer, which can take time.
“By repurposing our land that can be used to create jobs in the area, we hope to be able to gain the additional funds needed to build the new road, that we know is of importance to the local community.
“More information will be shared once the sites have been allocated for development in the adopted local plan and a developer is on board.”
Severn Trent has added the number of jobs created and the size of the buildings will depend on the develop who buys the site.
Consultation on the local plan ends today, 20 October.
The Local Plan document and a link to the consultation portal can be found here.
This must be stopped at all costs.