Shrewsbury magistrates court refurbishment plans changed over tree worries

Original proposals for the site, which sits next to the current crown court at Shirehall, included a footpath to the front of the building.

Now, the footpath has been removed from the designs after experts had raised concerns about the impact it could have on trees on the site.

The Ministry of Justice wants to transform the building, which was closed in March 2016 and has stood empty since, from the current four court set-up into a purpose-built two-room courtroom arrangement with space for juries, judges and public galleries.

A two-storey extension has been proposed for the building, which would provide an extra 154 square metres of floorspace. A new pedestrian footpath will be built to the front of the building.

Agents working on behalf of the Ministry of Justice said knocking the four courts into two would allow for the creation of other facilities including a multi-purpose hearing room, Judge’s chambers and retiring rooms for juries.

The Ministry of Justice confirmed the plan was still to move the existing crown court from its Shirehall location into the refurbished building.

In a letter to planners at Shropshire Council, Cameron Austin-Fell, principal planner for RPS Group, planning agents for the MOJ, said: "The amendment to the scheme relates to the removal of the footpath proposed in the original submission to the council.

"As part of the consultation process concerns have been raised by the council’s arboricultural officer related to the impacts of the proposed footpath on the identified Zelkova tree and smaller adjacent trees.

"It is proposed that the footpath is omitted from the scheme proposed to the council in order to address the officer’s concerns.

"It is not considered that this represents a significant change to the scheme and is not necessary in order to bring forward the extension to the magistrates court.

"It is expected that the proposal for a footpath can be reconsidered by the council as part of a subsequent planning application which will consider the implications of the comments raised by the council’s arboricultural officer and, if necessary, include a supporting Arboricultural Impact Assessment."

Andrea King, of the natural environment team at Shropshire Council, previously said she was unable to support the plans due to the possible impact on the trees.

She said: “I have concerns with regard to the proposed new footpath which will go between two birch trees.

“These trees are not shown on the submitted plan and the important large zelkova tree adjacent is shown as a small circle with no root protection area(RPA) indicated.

“In order to assess this proposal’s impact on these trees it will be necessary for a qualified arboriculturalist to undertake an arboricultural implications assessment (AIA), to evaluate the extent of direct and indirect impacts on existing trees (including the tree shown to be removed to accommodate the extension) with mitigation.

“In addition an arboricultural method statement on how the path can be prepared without excavations damaging the RPA of the birch trees will be necessary. Without this information I do not support the application.”