I visited the sleepy Shropshire village in the shadow of the Wrekin, where developers are battling to build more homes

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There's a charming contrast of old and new in the Severn-side village, with quaint cottages sat alongside modern homes.

Despite its tiny size, Cressage has a primary school, providing the term-time home to around 130 pupils, as well as a church, village hall, social club, medical practice and local shop.

It could have been the weather (cold, damp, windy) but it was remarkably quiet when I swung by on Monday afternoon, with many of the residential streets entirely devoid of people.

Luckily, the shop was open for business, providing me with few minutes shelter from the cold and an opportunity to pester someone who knew more about the place than I.

"It's a lovely village - quiet," said shop worker, Amanda Evans, who only began working behind the counter four months ago.

"The people are so friendly and the customers have been lovely - I've had a warm welcome."

Until fairly recently (in the grand scheme of things), the town also had a pub - The Eagles - which shut for the final time in 2015 before being sold at auction.

Today, having been locked in a eight-year-long planning battle, it stands a little sadly, boarded up in a position prominent enough for the local parish council to recently dub it "an eyesore in the village".

It's partly the existence of these facilities (well, not the pub) that have made Cressage the target of planners and developers.

In 2020, the local authority identified Cressage as being suitable for 80 new homes in the draft local plan - an important document outlining future locations for new housing and employment space.

But Shropshire's local plan was effectively scrapped earlier this year after government planning inspectors raised concerns, mostly about the lack of housing.

The drama has meant numerous planning applications have been lodged by developers hoping to fill that void - with a chapter unfolding in the sleepy riverside village of Cressage.

Two developers are currently battling it out for planning permission - one would see 96 homes built on the west of the village, while another proposes 60 homes on a site next door.

By their own math, the larger of the two schemes could increase Cressage's population of 730(ish) by 50(ish) per cent.

With the local plan in the waste paper bin, and Shropshire Council scrambling to find new places to build homes, it's not out of the realm of possibilities that both developments could go ahead.

More homes are not a concept the people of Cressage have wholeheartedly welcomed, with residents flocking to the planning portal to submit their concerns over the impact housing could have on the school, the doctors and the local roads.

For now, life in Cressage continues much as it always has: quietly. But the shadow of development hangs over the village just as surely as the Wrekin looms above it.

What happens next will shape not just the skyline, but the rhythm of this small community.