The Magic Roundabout

Readers of a certain age may recall this children's TV programme from the 1960's which acquired a cult following amongst the young and not so young alike.

We were reminded of this long forgotten classic late last week with the announcement of  revisions to the plans for the George & Dragon site.

In an earlier post, we reported that the Borough aborculturist had slapped a tree preservation order on the whole site.  It turns out that our suspicion that this might lead to design changes was right.  The owners responded immediately with a revised site plan which now includes the trees and Stafford BC has now sent out another letter asking for our comments.  We appear to be going round in circles.

• First there was the application to build flats
• Then there was the announcement that there would be a revision and that we would have to send in more letters 
• Next, the application was withdrawn
• Then another application was submitted
• Now this application has been revised before it has been fully assessed

In our view, we are being presented with a moving target, a point which we have taken up with Stafford Borough Councillor Richard Oldfield.   Not only that but the plans are now out of step with the design statement which has not been resubmitted.  What we can learn from this is that we need to be vigilant and keep up the pressure so, if you haven't written in yet, now might be a good time.

Anyway, as far as the revisions themselves go, we are hard pushed to spot the differences between the original and the new version, a point not helped by the omission of any kind of explanation.  Close inspection, however, reveals the presence of more trees on the revised plans suggesting that the owners have indeed responded to the tree preservation order.

Unfortunately, it also reveals something else.  Each of the eight houses is now shown with THREE car parking spaces in addition to a garage rather than two plus garage that were originally designed.  This means, dear readers, that there could be as many as 32 vehicles on this site - almost as congested as the onerous block of flats now thankfully consigned to the dustbin of planning history.

One of the major objections to any development of the pub site has always been the adverse impact on the already dangerous traffic conditions.  We learnt recently that there have been five fatalities in this area during the past 14 years.   Is it really in the interests of road safety to add another 32 vehicles?

If there is any good news at all about the revised application it is that we now have another two weeks in which to object.  As we said earlier, if you haven't written in yet there is no time like the present.

Florence, Dougal and Brian, we miss you!