Shropshire Council 'has not justified plans to build homes on green belt land'
Shropshire Council has failed to justify its plans to take land from the green belt to meet housing targets, campaigners have said.
Action group Shifnal Matters claims the authority has not demonstrated the “exceptional” circumstances required by government in order to alter the boundary of the West Midlands Green Belt, which overlaps the east of the county.
However the council says 951 acres needs to be taken out of the green belt in its new local plan, set to be adopted later this year, in order to provide enough homes and business sites to meet future growth expectations.
Shifnal Matters wrote to Boris Johnson in November asking for the Government to halt the review of the local plan, and prevent any encroachment into the green belt until all brownfield sites in Shropshire have been redeveloped.
It has now received a response from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, and while it did not agree to the request to pause the review, it did back up the group’s assertions that green belt release should only be considered as a last resort.
The letter, from then housing minister Christopher Pincher, said: “Only in exceptional circumstances may a local authority propose to alter a green belt boundary, using the local plan process of public consultation and formal examination of the plan by an independent planning inspector.
“In these circumstances, the authority is expected to evidence that it has considered all other reasonable options.
“It should show that it has made the most of its brownfield and under-used land, optimised density of development, and discussed with neighbouring authorities whether they could meet some of the identified development need.”
Shifnal Matters says the council has not been able to prove this, resulting in the examining inspectors requesting a ‘topic paper’ which “explains the steps taken by the council prior to making the decision to allocate land in the green belt for development around the proposed green belt land release”.
The inspectors also asked the council to explain whether the proposed release of green belt land is a result of Shropshire agreeing to build 1,500 extra homes to help the Association of Black Country Authorities (ABCA) meet its housing targets.
Shifnal Matters spokesman Tony Jemmett said: “The letter clearly states that green belt should only be removed under exceptional circumstances after all other options have been explored, and Shropshire Council have not taken this into account.
“Their projected housing figures are not a true reflection of what is needed for the town and include taking the unmet need from the West Midlands.
“How can we be expected to lose our green belt when the West Midlands aren’t prepared to lose theirs? If the circumstances are not exceptional enough for them it should not be for us.
“We have been awaiting new evidence from Shropshire Council to appear on the planning portal regarding this exceptional need, something which we thought should have been clarified well before now, if it even existed in the first place.”
Mr Pincher’s letter to the group also highlighted that the methodology used to determine housing need is designed to “maximise the use of existing infrastructure and to support development that reduces the need for high carbon travel”.
Mr Jemmett said: “This should surely rule Shifnal out for further development of its own, never mind the overspill from the West Midlands.
“Our roads can not cope with traffic levels as it is without adding to it and, as for reducing high carbon travel, where do Shropshire Council imagine people from the West Midlands are working?
“Will they not have to travel back to the West Midlands for their place of work”
Since the group formed in 2018, Shifnal Matters has continually argued that services in the town are already overstretched due to the high number of new homes built in recent years, and has urged the council to re-think any further growth in the area until significant infrastructure improvements are made.
“Shifnal Matters have never been against the right development in the right place but feel that the proposals for Shifnal are too much too soon.”
Under the draft new local plan, 421 acres of land will be removed from the green belt around Shifnal, Albrighton, Bridgnorth and Alveley, of which 134 acres would be developed during the plan period, mainly for employment sites.
The remainder would be ‘safeguarded’ to be developed post-2038.
A 530-acre ‘strategic site’ at Cosford is also to be removed from the green belt for the expansion of the RAF base, museum and new Midlands Air Ambulance headquarters.
A council spokesperson said: “The council submitted the draft Local Plan 2016-2038 to the government in September 2021, following several stages of consultation.
“The plan is now subject to independent examination and planning inspectors have been appointed by the government to assess the draft plan and its background evidence, which includes an exceptional circumstances statement for the proposed release of green belt land, as well as representations made to the plan, including from Shifnal Matters.
“It is anticipated that public hearing sessions into the plan will take place later this year where the issue of green belt is likely to be discussed."
