Planners back 50 village homes near Oswestry
Controversial plans to build 50 houses in a village have been approved by councillors.
The development in Oswestry had been opposed by the parish council which said it was backland development and did not fit in with local aspirations.
Gobowen has been identified as a "community hub" with about 200 homes to be built over the next 12 years.
Objectors to the scheme for the seven-acre site in Whittington Road said that there would be enough land for development in the village without this one.
However, a report to yesterday's north planning committee said that because Shropshire does not have its five-year housing allocation, little weight could be given to the current housing supply policy.
Councillors voted in favour of the outline planning application which will include areas of public open space. It is the latest scheme to be given the go-ahead in the county despite concerns about overdevelopment.
The agricultural land backs onto the rear gardens of houses that front on to Whittington Road, opposite the Derwen College.
In opposing the scheme the parish council said: "The entrance to the development is close to the Derwen College and the traffic generated from the new development will have a negative impact on students and local residents crossing Whittington Road to access the bus stop."
Objectors said that the scheme could set a precedent for other developments and that the site was outside the development boundary.
Council officer Tim Rogers
said that a government inspector had recently allowed the appeal against the refusal of planning permission for a residential development on a neighbouring site and it is considered that the appeal decision has set a precedent for new residential development on the outer edge of Gobowen
.
