Shrewsbury Copthorne Barracks 'to have homes for veterans'

Shropshire Council has pledged its support for at least some housing for ex-service personnel on the Shrewsbury site.

The former Army base is to be sold off by the Ministry of Defence, with planning permission being sought for about 230 homes.

But the move have proved controversial as veterans want to keep some historical features and a presence on the site – and the Light Infantry Veterans campaign group has called for homes built to be made available to retired servicemen and women.

Now the council has said it will work with everyone involved to push for housing for veterans to be included in the plans.

Mal Price, Shropshire Council cabinet member for planning and housing said: "The land at Copthorne Barracks does not belong to Shropshire Council but we will work with all partners, developers and the land owners, Daniel Kawczynski MP and the Light Infantry Veterans group, to see what can be achieved at the site – including potential military provision, taking planning policy into account."

He said under the current plans the MoD was looking at various measures to make the site more appealing to developers – and one of them was reducing the number of affordable homes developers would be responsible for delivering, which he said was 'disappointing' considering that elsewhere the government put pressure on Shropshire Council to create more affordable house in the county.

"A site like that would normally come along with 20 per cent affordable homes," he said, but said plans suggested only six out of 230, instead of what should be 46.

"If we can get 40 plus affordable properties, I'm happy for 10 of those to be provided for ex-servicemen."

He said this was an issue that Shropshire Council planners may be able to influence, though he was less confident about intervening in campaigners' hopes to keep buildings such as the officer's mess and accommodation blocks from being demolished. The military aspect is that there is a lot of history there," he said. "They want to still have a presence on the site."

Norman McGuiggan, of the Light Infantry Veterans campaign, said: "Everyone is looking for the best outcome for this historic site and the local community. So we were not surprised to learn of their support for the potential of military ex-service housing provision on the site, as stated – yet another demonstration of Shropshire's long and proud commitment to and connections with the military."

Councillor Tim Barker, Shropshire Council's Armed Forces Covenant chair, said the authority had signed the pledge in 2012 to support Shropshire's Armed Forces communities.

He said: "Here is an opportunity for the military and the government to proactively do something and for us to come forward and say we could do a little bit more."