Officer defends approval for 25 homes in Wem

Ian Kilby, development manager at Shropshire Council, said the council followed the correct procedures when using delegated powers to approve the plans for Roden Grove in Wem.

But campaigners opposed to the plans believe the council didn't follow the correct measures and feel the plans should have been decided by the planning committee.

They are angry there is no detailed record of when and why the decision was made, and why a local council member, who acts as an independent witness, was not asked to attend the meeting.

But Mr Kilby said: "The only 'error' was that as a matter of courtesy; the local members should have been advised of the outcome after the first discussion with the chairman and vice-chairman of the planning committee where they agreed that the application be delegated to officers.

"The agenda setting meetings are informal between the planning officer and the chairman/vice-chairman to agree which items will be included for consideration by planning committee.

"These triggers include cases where the parish/town council has raised objections and this is supported by the local member as in this case. The local member is not involved in the agenda setting meeting but they should have been informed of the decision to delegate.

"In this case however, there was a second discussion with the chairman and vice-chairman, prior to determination of the application, and the outcome of that meeting was communicated to the local members and published on the council's website given the then increasing public interest in the application.

"Therefore, the local member would have known of the decision to delegate."

It comes after campaigners staged a protest in Roden Grove against the council's decision. Campaigner Mike Sargeant said: "There was a meeting of the Roden Grove objectors, all with our placards at the head of Roden Grove by the field in question to plan our next move in the fight to rescind the plans. One of main objectives was to see how many vehicles it would take to gridlock Roden Grove. We succeeded with six vehicles. The estimated number of vehicles for this proposed development is between 50 to 60 – this number will create mayhem."