Villagers in Shropshire prepare to fight off another housing plan

Parish councillors in Leintwardine, near Ludlow, are calling for volunteers to pass around a petition and distribute flyers this weekend in the fight against 28 homes planned for High Street which they say are "not what the village needs".

The new campaign comes just weeks after villagers won a fight against plans for a 45-home estate at Rosemary Lane, which was unanimously rejected by Herefordshire Council's planning committee last month.

Objectors worry if the new estate is passed then an appeal by Rosemary Lane developers LWD will win by default, as the objections to both sets of plans are on the same grounds.

Alison Kay, chairman of Leintwardine Group Parish Council, said the High Street proposal at Seedley Lodge would cause the same problems for the village – if not worse – as the Rosemary Lane application.

She said: "Neither of these sites are offering what the village needs.

"Both only offer executive housing and what we want is affordable three- or four-bed housing to meet local needs."

She said the Seedley Lodge site would not be sustainable as the village did not have the school, road or sewerage infrastructure for it, nor any employment for anyone coming into the village from the outside.

"It's on an A road next to a blind brow of a hill where there are already four junctions, so it would add to the danger of the area," she said.

She said that, in addition, it was in a conservation area right next to the boundary of the scheduled ancient monument Roman settlement, adding: "With those three issues we have to object to it."

The plans are being brought by Halls of Shrewsbury, acting for landowner Philip Rogers-Coltman.

The proposal is named after Seedley Lodge bungalow, which would have to be knocked down despite currently being rented by pensioners Iris and Landy Shurmer, who said they were aware of the plans.

Shaun Jones, on behalf of Halls, said the development would be in keeping with the current shape and nature of the settlement "without starting a potential large protrusion of modern development out onto the western side of the village".

"It is fully enclosed by existing hedgerows and it is not possible to see into the application site from adjoining countryside to the west," he said.

Members and supporters of Leintwardine Group Parish Council will be meeting on Saturday at the village's community centre car park at 10am and are asking for volunteers to join them to help with the campaign.