Approved homes bids in Telford to face planning axe

One of the projects back to the drawing board is the proposal to build a village including more than 500 homes at the old British Sugar factory in Allscott, near Wellington. All of the developments have already been granted outline planning permission by Telford & Wrekin Council's planning committee.

But council planning chief Michael Barker said the committee would now be looking at the 11 schemes again because the authority has now determined it has satisfied Government targets of having a five-year supply of land for housing.

The other 10 have not been named but there is believed to be one in Doseley, one in Waters Upton, two in Lilleshall, three in Newport, one in Hortonwood, one in Tibberton and one in Shawbirch.

Mr Barker said: "What has now been determined by the council is that we now have five years of housing land.

"Some of the decisions taken by planning committee, but had not been issued as formal planning consents, were made in the context of not having a five-year housing land supply.

"There was a possibility that members might have made a different decision, had they had information that a five-year supply was available.

"They might have made a different choice when determining the planning application.

"It affects 11 applications in total. It's difficult for me to comment on whether it will change the outcome, because that's something the planning committee will have to decide.

"What we will have to do is set out what members did originally. We will have to tell them what has changed and yes, they could look at it again and make a different decision.

"We've obviously spoken with the applicants to tell them what is happening and we have started to make contact now with other interested parties and objectors."

He added: "All of this information will be presented to members of the planning committee when the applications are considered.

"There will be an element of cost in going back to the planning committee, I can't really give you an answer on that (figure) but the processes of planning committee take place anyway.

"They might have to deal with a larger number of reports than they might have expected, but I don't see there will be a large extra cost.

"I think it's making certain the situation is correct and safe for the applicants, so that if we get a decision in support of their application it protects it against potential legal challenges.

"Similarly from the point of view of anyone who has objected, they can be satisfied that the decisions will have been made in the full knowledge of all the relevant planning information."