£9 million Shrewsbury JLR showroom plan thrown into doubt

Highways England has said a development for a Jaguar Land Rover car showroom and petrol station, along with a coffee shop in Shrewsbury should not be given the green light until more information is provided.

Two planning applications have been submitted to Shropshire Council for the development on land near to Thieves Lane.

MDG Architects has submitted plans on behalf of Hatfields Jaguar Land Rover for the investment.

Meanwhile, PWA Planning on behalf of Monte Blackburn Ltd, has submitted a hybrid application seeking full planning permission for the petrol station, drive through coffee shop, a new access, parking, and landscaping, and outline permission for a new office park.

But Patrick Thomas, asset manager at Highways England, has recommended that planning permission is not granted until a combined traffic impact assessment of both proposals is completed, including a junction assessment of Emstrey roundabout.

Mr Thomas's report also says that a landscape and visual impact assessment, and a noise report and waste management plan have not been provided and that the applicants have not shown that environmental impacts have been "appropriately screened".

The report adds that a joint drainage strategy that considers the site as a whole is required along with a topographical survey to identify and map the contours of the ground.

Highways England has recommended that the plans are not approved until at least May to give the applicant time to provide the necessary information.

The JLR development would see 104 full-time employees on site, 74 of whom will be existing employees.

The deveopment of a petrol station and drive-through coffee shop would create 15 full-time jobs and 30 part-time jobs.

The site is in the Emstrey area of Shrewsbury and lies between the A5 and the B4380 Thieves Lane.

It forms part of an area designated by Shropshire Council’s Site Allocations and Management of Development Plan (SAMDev) as Shrewsbury Business Park Phase 3, an extension to the existing business park.

It is proposed that a single means of access into the site will be from Thieves Lane, which is to provide a new internal estate road that is to provide access to the adjacent, forthcoming Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) development to the south.

Until recently, the site was cultivated for agricultural purposes.