1,000 homes planned for Whitchurch

A thousand homes look set to be built in a north Shropshire town over the next 20 years.

Whitchurch Town Council has set out its vision for the town's development, which includes extra land for employment plus improvements to infrastructure and utilities.

It also wants to see high speed broadband brought to the area.

At last night's meeting town councillors were divided over how to respond to the Local Development Framework: Site Allocations and Management of Development document.

Councilor Peggy Mullock, deputy mayor, urged fellow members to support the building of 1,500 new homes.

"There are a lot of young people in this town who have not got anywhere to live," she said.

"We need more houses," she told the meeting.

But a majority of councillors disagreed, voting instead for fewer homes to be built.

Councillor Ruth Leach called for enhanced infrastructure saying: "It's necessary that we have faster broadband.

"Without it people won't be coming to take up posts in the town. We also need the electricity supply sorting out."

Councillor Ticker Harris backed the calls and said: "This town is getting bigger but nobody has updated or redone any of our utility systems.

"I can see if we continue as we are there is going to be a 'big bang'."

This year Shropshire Council has been consulting with town and parish councils about how to allocate sites for industry and housing in market towns.

The town council voted to back the building of 1,000 out of a possible 1,700 new homes — the minimum option on the table.

They also opted for develop more land as employment and industrial sites, choosing the second highest option before them.

Councillors also supported calls for better infrastructure, including improvements to drainage, the electricity supply and faster broadband.

About 4,000 people in and around Whitchurch have responded to the consultation.

Across Shropshire, initial findings suggest that town councils have mostly called for higher levels of housing in their areas.

By Tom Johannsen