‘Unsightly’ Shrewsbury garages to be demolished and replaced with parking spaces
An ‘unsightly’ block of garages in Shrewsbury will be knocked down after Shropshire Council gave demolition plans the go-ahead this week.
County planners approved the proposal to replace the block of seven garages at 15 Mount Street in the Frankwell area of the town, which will see the prefabricated concrete shelters razed to the ground and replaced with the same number of asphalt parking spaces.
A new 2m-high boundary wall made of sympathetic materials will also be constructed at the site.
In a supporting planning statement, applicant Mr Phillip Freeman said: “The garages are not used for parking cars in them as they are not of sufficient size. The garages are unsightly and are not in keeping with the surrounding area.”
Shropshire Council conservation officers said that, although the building was in the Mountfields Special Character region of the Shrewsbury Conservation Area, the scheme would provide an enhancement to the area’s listed buildings.
“As the rear garage wall currently makes up the rear boundary of 15 and 17 Mount Street, it is intended to construct a new 2m-high boundary wall to match the adjacent wall which serves the unlisted 9-12 St Georges Street, which is to be constructed of matching bricks, piers, buttresses and curved capping detail.
“In this regard it is considered to provide an enhancement in terms of the setting of the listed buildings and character of the conservation area over and above the existing situation and, subject to a sample panel of the brickwork and detailing of the wall, no objections are raised in conservation terms.”
A report by Shropshire Council planning officers said that demolishing the structure “would significantly enhance the character and appearance of the area".
The application was approved, subject to a condition which required the applicant to provide a sample of materials used in the new boundary wall.
