Blueprints being drawn up for future of three key Shropshire sites

Shropshire Council has confirmed it is talking to the owners of Copthorne Barracks in Shrewsbury, Clive Barracks at Tern Hill, near Market Drayton, and Ironbridge Power Station in an effort to ensure any development of the sites is "sustainable".

Councillor Malcolm Price, Shropshire Council's cabinet member responsible for planning, said the developments should include employment and potentially community facilities rather than just housing.

He said: "We need master plans for the three sites to influence how development should look in the future.

"The council will put the plans together in conjunction with the owners responsible for the sites. We want to maximise the use of these sites.

"The easy avenue for those sites would be just to go for housing, which is not appropriate. We need to look at employment and other uses for the sites."

Both Clive and Copthorne Barracks are owned by the Ministry of Defence.

The Tern Hill site is being sold as part of an MoD drive to generate more money, and help the Government provide land for 7,000 homes. It has been anticipated that up to 600 homes could be built at the site, which is currently home to the 1st Battalion The Royal Irish Regiment.

The Copthorne site was marketed for sale as a mixed use site last year, but despite several offers the Ministry of Defence decided to take it off the market to develop an outline planning application.

Once that is complete the MoD says it will be offered for sale.

Ironbridge Power Station is owned by energy firm E.ON and ceased production in November after 46 years.

Councillor Price said that comprehensive plans for the future of the sites are essential.

He said: "They will be more sustainable if it is a mixture use site and particularly containing employment.

"We have a lot of housing being built in the county and we need more employment sites.

"None of this will be done overnight, we are talking a number of years but we need to start planning for the future and it is an ideal opportunity."

The cabinet member said the authority would also be looking at the development of other sites across the country to learn about schemes that have been successful.

He said: "It may be with the former military sites there are others around the country where there is some best practice and we can look at whet they are doing and what has worked well."

A spokesman for the MoD confirmed that discussions are taking place on the future development of the sites.

Speaking about its Copthorne site, Emma Sloper of the MoD said: "The MoD is working with its agents JLL to consider submitting an outline planning application to Shropshire Council for re-development of the site. It will then be marketed later this year or early in 2017."

On the subject of the Clive Barracks, she said: "The MoD will work closely with the local authority and other interested parties to consider the best possible future uses for the site."

Roxanne Postle, a spokesman for Uniper which is in charge of Ironbridge Power Station, also confirmed the company is in the process of looking at the potential future uses of the site.

She said: "Our current focus is on the decommissioning phase at Ironbridge Power Station which is due to run until 2017.

"We are beginning the process of exploring future options for the site. These are early stage considerations and further details regarding the future use of the Ironbridge site will be given as appropriate."

The Ministry of Defence revealed it would sell Copthorne Barracks in 2014 after large areas had been left surplus to requirements following the departure of the 143 Brigade.

When Copthorne Barracks was initially marketed it was advertised as 16 hectares, including a range of buildings, living accommodation, and sports facilities – including sports pitches and tennis courts.

The barracks were built between 1877 and 1881 and initially included a hospital, married quarters, stabling and stores.

It was originally the depot of the King's Shropshire Light Infantry.

Construction work on Ironbridge Power Station began in 1962.

The plant was originally designed to run on coal and at full capacity was capable of generating up to 1000MW from two 500MW units.

It was later converted to biomass and the electrical output was reduced to 740MW. But only one of the two units had been operational following a fire in 2014 and capacity was further reduced to 370MW.

There were 130 workers on site when the plant closed last November. A small team of 14 was to be kept on after the shutdown to oversee a 15-month period of the decommissioning of the plant.

The closure of the power station was required by the EU's Large Combustion Plant Directive.

Clive Barracks in Tern Hill is currently home to the 1st Battalion The Royal Irish Regiment, but the base is expected to be sold by 2020.

The 1st Battalion, which has been based at the barracks near Market Drayton since 2007, will be forced to move to an as yet unknown location – putting its future in Shropshire in doubt.

The MoD is releasing 10 sites across the country as part of a bid to increase the efficiency of the defence department's estate, and as a contribution to the Government's target of releasing enough public sector land for 160,000 homes by 2020.

It is hoped the sales will generate a total of £140 million, which the Government says will be invested into the defence budget.

Announcing the sale, Defence Minister Mark Lancaster said: "Every pound we make by disposing of excess land will be reinvested into a defence budget that keeps Britain safe.

"It will make the defence estate more efficient and better suited to the needs of our armed forces. it will help thousands of people to own their own home."