4,706 people have signed against a new town at Packington Hall Farm on the A51. The council's study says 2,500 to 3,000 homes, and suggests at least 4,000.
A petition against a possible new town on farmland between Lichfield and Tamworth had 4,706 verified signatures on Monday morning. It asks Lichfield District Council to keep Packington Hall Farm, on the A51 beside Hopwas Woods, out of the next Local Plan (Change.org petition).
The petition was started on 15 September and warns of “up to 4,500 new homes”. The council’s own evidence gives a smaller starting figure but points the same way. A study prepared for the council puts the site’s capacity at 2,500 to 3,000 homes. It then tells the council to look at making it bigger, to at least 4,000 (New Settlement Feasibility Study, July 2025).
The timing matters. The first consultation on the district’s new Local Plan closes at 5pm today, and the call for sites runs to 30 November. No site has been chosen yet.
What the council’s study says about the site
The study was prepared for the council in July 2025. It looked at four sites that landowners had put forward as possible new settlements. Its description of Packington Hall Farm:
- Where: on the A51, east of Whittington Barracks and west of Hopwas Woods
- Size: about 175 hectares, mostly farmland, in a single ownership
- Promoter: Miller Developments, on behalf of the landowners since May 2025, with Nexus Planning
- Capacity: about 2,500 to 3,000 homes, primary schools, possibly a secondary school, about 5 hectares of employment land and two local centres
- Name in the promoter’s vision: “Packington Fields Garden Village”
- Access: new junctions on the A51, with the speed limit expected to come down through the site and a high-frequency bus route between Lichfield and Tamworth
The study calls it “the least constrained new settlement proposition” of the four. It found no designated landscape on the site. The site had not been promoted before the council’s Issues and Options consultation of December 2024.
It also lists what would have to be dealt with:
- Hopwas Wood, “a substantial area of Ancient Woodland adjacent to the site”, which would need a detailed woodland management plan
- Packington Hall and its Malthouse, both Grade II listed, near the northern boundary, and the Grade II listed Hopwas Bridge
- the barracks and its rifle range, which also uses Hopwas Woods for live firing exercises, raising noise questions
Why 3,000 could become 4,000 or more
The study’s main worry about Packington Hall Farm is that it is too small to work as a town on its own. At 2,500 to 3,000 homes, it says, the site “may not have the critical mass” for a full range of services, including a secondary school. More residents would then drive off site for them.
Its suggested fix is to raise density or add land, “with the aim of achieving an overall quantum of at least 4,000 dwellings”. It names two directions the site could grow:
- west, up to the HS2 corridor
- south, towards the quarried land between the site and the A5
That land is not controlled by the promoter. The study’s final recommendation is that the council “should consider the full potential extent” of a new settlement before drawing any boundary.
The promoter’s own build-out plan, as the study reports it, starts at 100 homes a year and rises to 200 a year. The study estimates about 2,600 homes by 2043 if every issue is resolved, assuming a lead-in of about five years.
Packington Hall Farm is not the only candidate. The same study looked at three other sites:
| Site | Where | Capacity in the study |
|---|---|---|
| Thorpe Constantine | About 5km north east of Tamworth, on the road to M42 junction 11 | At least 4,500 to 6,000 homes, possibly about 10,000 in time |
| Brookhay | East of the A38 and Fradley, south of Whitemoor | About 5,000 homes |
| Whitemoor | East of the A38 and Alrewas | 1,500 to 2,000 homes |
The study says Whitemoor and Brookhay should be treated as a single settlement.
What the petition says
The petition’s organisers say the site is Green Belt farmland and that building on it would merge Lichfield and Tamworth into “a single, merged, continuous urban conurbation”. They also cite the risk to Hopwas Woods and say local roads and public services are already at capacity. The petition is addressed to Lichfield District Council. It was started by an account with no named organiser (Change.org petition).
Where the Local Plan has got to
The feasibility study was written for the council’s previous plan, the Local Plan 2043. The council has since restarted under the government’s new plan-making system, and the new plan runs to 2046. It must provide at least 15,380 homes, 769 a year. The council says in its scoping document that it needs “to consider the possibility of delivering new settlements”, because there is probably not enough brownfield land. We covered that consultation in full when it opened: Lichfield Local Plan: 15,380 homes by 2046.
The council’s call for sites page is explicit on one point: “Even if you have submitted a site previously, the new online form must be filled in for the site to be considered.” So Packington Hall Farm, and every other site from the old process, has to be put forward again by 30 November 2026 (Lichfield District Council, call for sites).
The council’s published timetable puts the first draft plan, which is where sites will first be proposed, out to consultation from 14 June to 26 July 2027.
What it means for you
- The scoping consultation closes at 5pm today, 5 October. It asks what the plan should cover and how the council should consult, not which sites to pick. Responses go through the council’s online consultation portal. If you cannot use it, the council takes views by email to developmentplans@lichfielddc.gov.uk or on 01543 308000, asking for planning policy (scoping consultation page).
- Signing a Change.org petition is not a consultation response. The council’s formal record of views is what comes in through its consultations.
- The real fight over sites comes in summer 2027, when the first draft plan names them. That is the stage to comment on Packington Hall Farm, Thorpe Constantine or any other site.
- Nothing has been decided. No site is allocated, and the study itself says inclusion in a plan would face close scrutiny from a planning inspector.
Planning news across the district, including applications decided each week, is on our Lichfield planning news page.
Sources
- Lichfield District Council, New Settlement Feasibility Study, July 2025, paragraphs 1.24, 3.1 to 3.18, 4.5 to 4.11 and 5.6, for the site, its capacity, the promoter, the constraints, the 4,000 recommendation and the delivery estimate.
- Change.org, Protect Lichfield and Tamworth from inappropriate Green Belt development, checked 5 October 2026, for the signature count, start date and the petition’s claims.
- Lichfield District Council, scoping consultation and call for sites pages, checked 5 October 2026.
- Lichfield District Council, Local Plan 2046 timetable, for the first draft plan consultation dates.
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