Plans for Shrewsbury's Copthorne Barracks to become homes and apartments

Proposals went on display for the ex-Army site in Shrewsbury, including turning the landmark keep at the entrance into apartments and the former parade ground into a "village green".

Members of the public turned out to view the plans, put forward by the Ministry of Defence and Jones Lang LaSalle Ltd, at an exhibition at Shrewsbury Town Football Club's Greenhous Meadow stadium yesterday.

Comments from the consultation will then be used to adapt the plans for an outline planning application, which is expected to be submitted in mid-September.

Redeveloping the barracks site has proved controversial with Shrewsbury Town Council, whose members voted unanimously to object to demolishing buildings there last week and called for the grounds to be listed and protected from future development.

Speaking yesterday, Elle Cass, director of planning and development at Jones Lang LaSalle, said: "I think we have had a really good turnout which is important because we want this consultation to reflect people's views.

"There are mixed views, but there have been lots of positive comments.

"It is an excellently located brownfield site that we need to get a positive development for, for everybody. Retaining the keep will provide a really strong local reminder of its history, even though it was not deemed worth listing by English Heritage."

The keep is planned to become nine two-bed apartments, and is the only building suitable for conversion, according to planning displays.

The display stated: "This fortress-like building is the most prominent landmark on the street frontage and symbolises the presence of the barracks in the public realm. Its retention is seen as an important celebration of the history of the site and an opportunity to enhance the Copthorne Road frontage."

The newly revealed plans will keep the entrance on Copthorne Road as the main access, on to a "tree-lined avenue" leading to a the former parade ground which will be re-landscaped "to reflect the formal pattern of the original layout and provide a link with the history of the site".

Around the central green will be town houses and semi-detached houses "reflecting the density of Copthorne Road" while to the west will be a mix of sizes and styles "reflecting the residential patterning of The Mount and Richmond Drive", with more green areas in both the east and west of the site.

It's the end of one era for Copthorne Barracks – and the start of a new one with plans now firmly in place for its future after more than 100 years as an Army base.

The barracks staged its last parade in 2014, 137 years after it was built in 1877.

The regular Army's history at the Shrewsbury barracks dates back to when it was built as the 21st brigade depot.

Between 1881 and 1962 it was the base of the Kings Shropshire Light Infantry, before the Headquarters 143 (West Midlands) Brigade settled at the site in 1987. Plans for a new barracks in Shrewsbury were first put forward by the War Department in 1872.

Lt Colonel Akus from the War Department approached the town council with plans for a new barracks in Kingsland. But before the scheme took shape, Shrewsbury School bought the land in Kingsland and moved from its previous town centre location.

A barracks had to be built within two miles of the town centre so the next best site was the land between Copthorne Road and The Mount – all of which was privately owned pasture land.

Local firm Treasure & Sons was awarded an unprecedented £50,000 contract to build the base on an area which covered about nine acres.

About four million bricks were used in the building of the barracks, which included a hospital and married quarters, stabling, stores and the whole area was bounded by walls 15 feet high. Until 1985, the base was the home of Shropshire Regimental Museum – before it was transferred to Shrewsbury Castle.

Bombed

In 1992, the castle was bombed by the IRA and much of the museum's collection was either badly damaged or destroyed.

The Queen Mother visited Copthorne Barracks in 1968, 1974 and 1986 in her role as Colonel in Chief of the Light Infantry, and a gate at the barracks is named in her honour.

A 43-apartment retirement home will be to the north east of the site, set in its own grounds and accessed from a re-designed junction on Barracks Lane.

Among those viewing the plans were Isabel and Bob Clubb, who live on Barracks Lane. Mrs Clubb, 73, said she had mixed feeling about the idea.

"We're right at the back of it and I can't say I'm happy about having a housing development at the bottom of my garden.

"But at the moment it is a shambles, its very messy and what do you do with it otherwise? The parade field inside used to be so nice to look at but it's only been cut once this year."

Others questioned the impact on traffic at the entrance on Copthorne Road and whether the site should instead be used for employment.

The barracks site was put up for sale by 2014 after the MoD declared it redundant.