The Express & Star's James Vukmirovic talks to the people of Eccleshall about the local Save Eccleshall campaign, and plans to build a large number of houses in the village.
00:00This is Eccleshaw and according to the locals it's under siege. From the group
00:04Save Eccleshaw they are fighting to save the village from multiple large-scale
00:10housing developments being forced upon the historic Royal Town. We're here in
00:13this very lovely village on the edge of Safford to talk to people and see what
00:18can be done to, well let's just say, Save Eccleshaw.
00:23So what's your thoughts on the campaign Save Eccleshaw? I think that it's necessary.
00:28I think that the idea of developing such large numbers of houses is ridiculous
00:34really, in such a small town. Especially when there's lots of other sites,
00:39Brownfield particularly, that are available that have been remediated and
00:43are ready for redevelopment. On the other hand I do know that we have to build
00:48houses. We've got an enormous shortage of affordable houses particularly and very
00:54often even though the developers are saying, oh yes we're going to build a
00:58affordable houses. Sometimes the plans change and they go to more expensive
01:03because clearly that's where the profit is. You understand that they're in
01:06business to make money. Whether or not we'll get a new health centre here if we
01:12don't go down this route, I don't know. And it would be lovely to have a new health
01:17centre. The one we have, the crown surgery, great doctors, great surgery but it's in a
01:23you know, three, four hundred year old building. So it really doesn't, can't be adapted in any way.
01:28It's the case of the infrastructure has to be there to meet the need hasn't it?
01:32It does. It has to come before I think you start to extend the population. Because very quickly you know children, school aged children will need accommodation,
01:40only accommodating and there's no secondary education here.
01:45And with the idea of Eccleshaw being, at the moment it's always a largest village, if it became a town as such with more housing around it, do you think it's going to affect the town and the quality of it?
01:57I don't think so because I think that providing you maintain the look of the town at the moment, the buildings, it's the people who make the town actually. So there is some control over that you know, it's as new people come in they want to live here because it's a nice place.
02:15So you'd expect them to sort of act accordingly. I don't believe so but I'm not from Eccleshaw and so I'm sure lots of residents, longer term residents will feel very different about that.
02:28For us it's, I don't know, I know Eccleshaw needs more houses but I don't think the amount of houses is what they're asking for.
02:36I've got friends who have now got children that are wanting to buy houses so they can't afford to buy in Eccleshaw. So yeah, some awful housing where you could encourage people to stay in Eccleshaw would be lovely.
02:47I just think the actual amount is not sustainable. So I say I'm on the fence. Yes, we need some houses but not the amount that they're actually asking.
02:57If there's these few pockets of houses around, like what they're doing at the minute, that's lovely.
03:02Because we do need more people. I know people are massively opposed to when Sancerre was built, but now everybody knows someone in Sancerre and they're all friends with people in Sancerre and it's so much more for the community.
03:15But anything more I just don't think is sustainable with our current infrastructure, especially the roads and the parking and the doctor's surgery, the school, we've both got kids at school.
03:24So having that worry about people being able to go to schools.
03:28I mean, that's the thing with the campaign group. They talk about how it could have the real negative impacts on Eccleshaw. You've talked about the infrastructure.
03:34If it was there, do you think it would work? Would you think that work needs to be done everywhere?
03:37I don't think they'd follow through. I mean, even Sancerre, when they built Sancerre, they made all these promises for putting back into the community and most of that money went into stone.
03:48So technically, yes, that's still local, but it didn't actually directly support Eccleshaw. So I think they're making lots of promises that just wouldn't actually happen.
03:59So tell me about your side of this because you're the person leading the campaign.
04:03Well, I'm one of the main people leading the campaign. I'm more on press and publicity because I want everybody to see and highlight the situation we have in Eccleshaw currently, which is the potential of 1500 houses being built across 10 plots of land.
04:19And what do you think the impact is going to be if these houses are built?
04:23Well, for one, we've got gridlocking at the moment. I noticed the fire station was blocked for 10 minutes last week during a gridlocking at tea time.
04:32We've got perpetual flooding and we also have things like lack of place in school, three or four weeks for a doctor's appointment.
04:42So that's currently. So you add potentially 1500 houses to this situation and we've got a big problem.
04:53And there are different views about this from the people we've spoken to.
04:56People have said they agree on the idea of the housing being needed, but the infrastructure needs to be in place as well. Do you agree with that?
05:02There's no question that the infrastructure has got to be in place.
05:05And we're not against building the national NPPF, which is the policy that determines how many houses are built.
05:16Staff of Borough Council need to build 809 per annum of which 12% goes to the key service villages of which we're one.
05:27So you share that between nine. That leaves our annual build for Eckershall between 10 and 20.
05:35Whereas one estate is going to be 142 houses.
05:40And we've got potentially 10 of those estates.
05:43So we could end up with 1500 houses when really, if you went by the rules,
05:48which is the rules that are set in place by Labour government and Staff of Borough Council have to adhere to them.
05:54Our proportional numbers of houses to be built will be between 10 and 20 a year, which we're quite happy to have.
06:01A sense of realism, basically, is what it's needed.
06:03Yes, almost challengeable, to be quite honest.
06:06I have written to James Cleverley, I've written to Steve Reid last week,
06:10saying that this cannot happen because it'll destroy the fabric of the village that I've lived in for the last 50 years.
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