The Staffordshire Moorlands Council Planning Applications Committee met on 11 September 2025 to discuss several planning applications and related matters. The committee approved a non-material amendment to a condition for a flexible energy facility, varied a condition relating to a housing development, and approved a tree preservation order. However, they refused retrospective consent for alterations to an agricultural building and outline planning permission for a new dwelling.

Blythe Park, Sandon Road, Cresswell

The committee approved a Section 73 application to vary conditions 4 and 12 of outline planning permission SMD/2021/0829 for a housing development at Blythe Park, Sandon Road, Cresswell. This relates to changes to a link drive at the Cresswell Lane/Uttoxeter Road junction. Condition 4 lists the drawing numbers for the development, and condition 12 requires highway works at the junction of Cresswell Lane and Uttoxeter Road.

The changes were proposed because Staffordshire County Council (SCC) issued a revised HMPE (Highways Maintainable at Public Expense) plan indicating that Church Lane, where the link road would have emerged, was no longer under their ownership. The developer proposed amending the private link drive to connect back onto Uttoxeter Road, forming a one-way loop.

The Local Highways Authority (SCC) had no objection to the proposal. Despite objections from the Parish Council and local residents, the committee found that an unacceptable impact on highway safety or severe residual impact on the road network could not be demonstrated.

The original permission was subject to a planning obligation, and the varied scheme will also be subject to a deed of variation to reference the new consent.

Land Adjacent Cellarhead Substation, Rownall Road, Wetley Rocks

The committee approved a Section 96A application for a non-material amendment to condition 15 of planning permission SMD/2022/0444 for a flexible energy facility at Land Adjacent Cellarhead Substation, Rownall Road, Wetley Rocks. Condition 15 requires a Materials Management Plan (MMP) defining excavation and bund processes, with detailed drawings of proposed raised earthworks, to be submitted and approved before development commences.

The amendment seeks to alter the trigger for submitting the MMP to allow 'commencement works' to take place. The applicant's proposed amendment to condition 15 is as follows:

No excavation of any soil involved in the formation of the BESS facility or the bund formations shall take place until such time that a Materials Management Plan (MMP) that defines the excavation and bund formation processes and provides detailed drawings of the proposed raised earthworks has been submitted to and approved in writing by the Local Planning Authority. The development shall be carried out strictly in accordance with the approved details.

The applicant provided a document entitled 'NMA operations' confirming the work that would be undertaken ahead of submitting the MMP, including stripping topsoil from the access road and a portion of the welfare/compound area, and constructing the access road and bell mouth.

15 letters objecting to the application were received, raising concerns about the impact on the green belt landscape and the need for a full MMP before construction starts. However, officers considered the effect of the proposed change to be minor and non-material, as the works do not involve significant movement of material, excavation, and bund formation, unlike the main battery compound.

Land off Rownall Road, Wetley Rocks

The committee refused retrospective consent for the addition of enclosing walls and a roller shutter door to the three open sides of an agricultural building at Land off Rownall Road, Wetley Rocks. The application, SMD/2025/0339, was submitted by John Pointon and Sons.

The building is attached to a larger, earlier building, forming a single 96m long structure at what the applicant calls Sylvester's Farm, also known as Rownall Farm. The site is in the Green Belt.

The application sought retrospective consent for changes carried out in 2022 that fully enclosed the once open-sided store. The applicant described the building as a hay barn, despite it now being fully enclosed.

The committee refused the application for two reasons:

1. The proposal did not demonstrate an essential need for the development to be located in the countryside, as required by local plan policy SS10.
2. The metal wall cladding and large roller shutter door created a highly industrialised appearance, conflicting with the character and appearance of the area, contrary to local plan policies SS10, DC1, and DC3, and the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF).

Land Adjacent to the Orchard Springfield Drive, Leek

The committee approved application SMD/2024/0413 for the variation of condition 9 of planning approval SMD/2016/0134 at Land Adjacent to the Orchard, Springfield Drive, Leek. Condition 9 required the applicant to provide foul and surface water drainage in accordance with drawing 2015/2095 08 Rev G before the development is first brought into use.

The application was brought back to the committee after a complaint from local residents that they had not received notification of the previous meeting in time to register to speak.

The applicant sought to vary condition 9 to refer to revised drainage plans, including drawing 2015-2095-096D Revised Attenuation Tank Position, drawing K638-107 Rev H (dated 02/09/24), and hydraulic calculations (dates 14/08/24).

The Lead Local Flood Authority and Severn Trent Water were consulted on the revised drainage proposals and raised no objections.

15 Belmont Road, Ipstones

The committee refused application SMD/2025/0329 for outline planning permission with all matters reserved for a single new dwelling within the garden curtilage of 15 Belmont Road, Ipstones.

The application was submitted by Ms Bethany Edwards and Mr Samuel Wilkinson, with Ms Edwards being a council staff member.

The committee refused the application because the development did not meet any of the exceptions for housing outside of the Ipstones development boundary, and was therefore contrary to Staffordshire Moorlands District Council Local Plan policies SS1, SS10, DC1, DC3 and H1, and the NPPF.

The committee found that the development was not put forward as affordable housing and did not meet affordable dwelling criteria, it was not considered to be of appropriate scale and character, nor was it well related to the existing settlement pattern and surrounding land uses.

Other Matters

The committee also discussed performance on planning appeals and an enforcement update, but these were held in exclusion of the press and public due to the nature of the business to be transacted.