Developers to build 216-house estate in Shifnal

The homes, which will be built off Haughton Road between the northern edge of Shifnal and the M54, were given the green light at a meeting of Shropshire Council's south planning committee yesterday.

It comes after proposals for a further 184 homes put forward by Taylor Wimpey for a nearby site were approved by councillors last month.

The Bovis estate will include 17 different types of house, mostly with two parking spaces and a garage, in streets running off a central road.

Outline permission for 400 houses on the greenfield land was given to developers Lioncourt in 2013, but the company then pulled out of the scheme and split the land to sell it off.

Stuart West, Shropshire councillor for Shifnal South and Cosford and vice chairman of the planning committee, was less complimentary about the Bovis estate design than he had been about the Taylor Wimpey one, which he had said was better than anyone was expecting.

He said: "I don't think this is the most exciting estate, but together with the Taylor Wimpey site I think it's the best we're going to get here."

He added large-scale home-building off Haughton Road had been controversial.

"If we had a five-year land supply at the time I don't think this land would have got permission, but here we are," he said. "But I do have to commend Bovis and Taylor Wimpey for the way they have worked together, which is something they're not always known for."

Councillor Ceclilia Motley, member for Corvedale, said she would support the estate, but added she wanted to see lots of trees and greenery planted to help with carbon capture and act as corridors for wildlife. She said: "We need to be very fierce about landscaping on these big estates, not least to make them more human."