Shropshire parish council feels 'bullied' over plans

Bicton Parish Council has submitted a neutral comment on proposals to build almost 300 homes in the west of the town close to the village.

But the parish council has said it is unhappy with the planning process after it was indicated that the development is likely to get the go-ahead.

The plans represent the first stage of the Shrewsbury West Sustainable Urban Extension (SWSUE), which will eventually see 750 homes built.

The first phase includes a hotel, a restaurant/pub, a petrol filling station and three hectares of employment land which is situated off the Welshpool Road.

But parish clerk Peter Anderson said the authority was not made aware of the plans until they were well-advanced.

"When Bicton Parish Council then objected to the whole idea of a SWSUE it was told that it is in the core strategy and, therefore, it is too late to object," he said.

"Bicton Parish Council was further told that it would be consulted as to the details of the development, which it has been to the extent of being involved in the decisions about Calcott Lane and Shepherd's Lane and whether they should be connected to the Oxon Relief Road or made into cul-de-sacs."

Mr Anderson said it had been "made plain to Bicton Parish Council that this development would go ahead" because of factors such as the National Planning Policy Framework and because of Shropshire Council's core strategy for housebuilding.

It added: "Given the above, Bicton Parish Council feels bullied in to not objecting to this application."

If the outline application from David Wilson Homes and Jennings Estates is given the go-ahead, applications would be required on specific elements of the scheme.

A total of 297 homes would be created as part of the proposals.

A financial contribution will be made by developers towards the eventual creation of the Oxon Link Road.

The intended link road between the A5 bypass and the Holyhead Road could act as a leg of a possible future North West Relief Road – a project which has currently been mothballed by the council.

A proposed NWWR was dropped in 2011 due to a lack of cash, but the idea remains an aspiration from the council.

It would create a four-mile bypass from the Churncote island to the west of Shrewsbury through to the roundabout on Ellesmere Road.

No one from Shropshire Council was available to give the Shropshire Star a comment on this story today.