Council to consider historic air shelter protection as part of house plan
A Second World War air raid shelter could be protected if home-building plans are approved, a council officer’s report says.
Private developers have applied for outline permission to build a house in part of their garden in Ketley Bank, Telford.
Telford and Wrekin Council officers recommend the borough’s Planning Committee approves the plan, provided a condition is imposed requiring an archaeological on the remains.
Oakengates and Ketley Bank councillor Stephen Reynolds has objected to the planning application, arguing that the “narrow roads surrounding the site” are unsafe, especially for refuse and emergency vehicles which already encounter problems in the area.
The planners’ report says: “The application site is located on Hillside Road.
“There are historic remains of an air raid shelter situated on the north-eastern part of the site which are recorded on the Shropshire Historic Environment Record.”
Precise details of the design of the house would be finalised in a later full planning application, it adds, but three parking spaces are planned, accessed off Hillside Road.
“The protection of the air raid shelter remains may impact upon the developed area and may result in the indicatively shown dwelling needing to be reduced in scale and the layout amended to take account of its preservation,” the report says.
It adds that Telford and Wrekin Council is aiming to protect the shelter but Shropshire Council’s archaeology service – which is consulted on planning applications across the whole county – “has not objected to its removal if it cannot be accommodated within the site”.
Cllr Reynolds issued a “call-in” notice, requesting that the application be decided in public by the committee rather than by council officers.
His reasons, the report says, included “concern regarding the highway network of narrow roads surrounding the site”.
He noted “that there is restricted space for service vehicles which is already an issue, and a new dwelling will worsen the situation”.
The Planning Committee will discuss the application when it meets on Wednesday, June 30.
