'Damaging' pond clearances at Shrewsbury development provoke angry response

Councillors and residents have criticised work on ponds at the 340-home Churncote development, south of Bicton near Shrewsbury.

They say the work is damaging wildlife, and claim it breaches planning consent - and they fear it may set a precedent for house building should the North West Relief Road go ahead.

Developers at Churncote, David Wilson Homes, said there has been no breach of planning consent and that there was an on-site ecologist liaising with the team.

Residents of Shepherd’s Lane, Bicton, say they have been subjected to heavy machinery and markings implying an access point will be carved out of hedgerows on the lane.

Mandie Lee is a Bicton Parish Councillor who lives near the site. She said: “Residents in Bicton feel really upset and worried by developments at the site off Shepherd’s Lane. It was never popular around here, but we knew that residents were the underdogs against developers when fighting it and when it passed we were not surprised."

She said that two of the three ponds on the site were being filled in and that the other had had reeds cut down, disturbing the wildife.

Alex Wagner, the Liberal Democrat Councillor for Bowbrook, has part of the site falling into his division.

He said: “My real worry here is that this sets a precedent. The North West Road – should it be built – would be metres from this site, and it forms a prototype for the sort of ‘housing delivery’ mass development that Shropshire Council want to see tied into the project.

"Formally or informally, how developers are treated here sets a real precedent for potentially thousands of proposed houses across Shrewsbury for years to come. That precedent simply cannot be that developers can do what they like – Rules have to be followed and enforced properly.”

Paul Smith from David Wilson Homes Mercia said: "We remain committed to protecting the environment at all times."

He said changes to the plans had seen the retention of the large pool on site whilst the two smaller pools had been drained.

"This is all fully approved and is being supervised by on on-site ecologist."

Last year residents stepped in when they said work to clear the site began before conditions attached to the planning permission had been met.

They had fought the development, saying it would destroy the Shropshire countryside.