Bridgnorth building plan ‘completely unworkable’
A leading light from a campaign group aimed at saving a country park in Bridgnorth from large scale development has said plans to replace it with nearby woodland are "completely unworkable".
Friends of Stanmore Country Park vice chair Ruth Westerby also said both Stanmore Park and Hermitage Ridge are vital pieces of green space that need to be preserved.
This comes after Shropshire Council's Local Plan Review earmarked land at the country park for development which could see hundreds of homes and a large business site built as part of a garden village.
The Local Plan states: "In light of the issues and challenges identified, Shropshire Council considers that there is sufficient evidence of 'exceptional circumstances' in Bridgnorth to justify building on the existing urban fabric of the former RAF Stanmore to create a new community as a mixed use 'garden settlement' which would: deliver a new area of publicly accessible woodland and open space to include Hermitage Ridge providing: informal managed footpaths creating functional and recreational linkages between Lower Town and the country park; interpretation boards on the woodland and ecological features; and interpretation boards on the Hermitage caves scheduled monument."
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Ruth Westerby said: "Shropshire Council's proposal suggesting the Hermitage Ridge as an alternative to replace Stanmore Country Park is completely unworkable.
"Stanmore is a large, flat, rural park with preserved pathways accessible by wheelchairs, pushchairs and bikes and suitable for children's ball games.
"The Hermitage Ridge is an area of ancient woodland on a steep ridge which has negligible open or level ground.
"The green spaces are not comparable, but both are vital for contrasting reasons and both should therefore be preserved.
"Reducing the size of Stanmore Country Park would discriminate against people with reduced mobility."
The council proposals are part of a plan to build 28,000 homes across the county up until 2036.
The plans for Shifnal have also been the focus of considerable local opposition. They include 1,500 new houses, a bypass from the Wolverhampton Road to the Priorslee Road, and up to 40 hectares of employment land.
