The land has been earmarked for up to 500 homes
17:55, 17 Oct 2025Updated 05:40, 20 Oct 2025
Green Belt land at Trentham has been earmarked for up to 500 homes in the draft local plan
Hundreds of residents are fighting a golf club’s plans to sell off Green Belt land for housing. Fields owned by Trentham Golf Club, next to the A34 Stone Road, have been earmarked for up to 500 homes in Stoke-on-Trent City Council’s draft local plan.
The golf club says that developing the land will help safeguard its future and provide ‘much-needed’ housing in Stoke-on-Trent. But a total of 1,430 people have backed a petition calling for the site to be removed from the local plan, which, once adopted, will guide all development in the city up to 2040.
Objectors say that hundreds more homes in the area will exacerbate the existing traffic problems on the A34, while also putting extra pressure on local schools and GP surgeries. They also raise concerns over the loss of Green Belt land and wildlife habitats, and the impact on Trentham’s conservation area.
Lead petitioner Sonia Harley believes that the council should be prioritising development on brownfield sites in the city.
In her petition, she says: “This development would cause irreversible harm to our natural environment, local heritage, infrastructure and community well-being. The proposed development in Trentham falls within Green Belt, a designation created to prevent urban sprawl, protect the countryside and preserve the character of rural communities. Building on here directly violates policies to protect such spaces.
“Our local roads especially the A34 Stone Road are already under strain. A 15 minute journey to work in Hanley in a morning takes 45 to 60 minutes. An extra 500 houses each having at least two cars would flood already busy roads.
“Schools and GP surgeries are overwhelmed and the pressure that that the build will have on the existing infrastructure will reduce quality of life for current and future residents.”
The golf club’s land is part of the wider BL2 site in the draft local plan, which also includes land next to Strongford sewage works owned by Severn Trent Water. Severn Trent wants to sell off its land for employment use, in order to fund an access road for the sewage works on to the A34.
While the council has included both parcels of land in BL2, the two schemes are independent of each other. Trentham South Residents’ Association organised a public meeting to discuss the BL2 site, with many of those attending raising similar concerns to the petition.
Ward councillor Dan Jellyman urged residents to write to the golf club and ask that its withdraws its land from the local plan.
Councillor Dan Jellyman addresses a meeting of Trentham South Residents’ Association
He said: “I have major concerns over the impact that building 500 homes will have on local infrastructure, particularly considering the developments that have already been approved in Trentham.
“More than 50 per cent of housing in the local plan is allocated to Green Belt sites. I believe that we should be building up, rather than building outwards like this. There are plenty of brownfield sites in the city centre where we could be building schemes like the Goods Yard. If we built one of those a year we would easily meet our housing targets.
“I’ve seen emails from golf club members who are unhappy that the club is doing this. I would urge people to write to the golf club and ask them to remove their land from the local plan.”
Trentham Golf Club says that Stoke-on-Trent is facing an ‘acute housing crisis’, and that the local plan process will ensure that demand for housing is met while considering factors such as the environment, infrastructure and the views of the public.
In a statement, the club’s board of directors said: “Like most towns and cities, Stoke-on-Trent is experiencing an acute housing crisis with too few homes to meet the needs of both current and future generations. The local plan is a transparent process through which the council will assess the suitability of the land owned by Trentham Golf Club alongside a range of other potential sites, both greenfield and brownfield, to identify the combination of sites that is best able to meet that housing need.
“This is the first step in a thorough, evidence-led evaluation by the council, which includes public consultation, environmental assessment and independent inspection, which will ensure that residents and the wider community are given the opportunity to shape the outcome.
“Should the council choose to allocate the site for development within the local plan, it would not only deliver much-needed new homes but would safeguard the long-term future of Trentham Golf Club. It would secure its place within the community it has served for 130 years, while improving the facilities and experience for our visitors, members, and future members.”
A public consultation on the draft local plan will end on October 20. The final draft version of the plan will be subject to a further round of consultation next year.
