Veterans group submits 64-page objection to Copthorne Barracks development plans

The Bring Sir John Moore’s Barracks Back to Life Light Infantry Veterans’ Group has submitted the report to Shropshire Council’s planning authority, outlining its objections to the plans.

The former Army base is to be sold off by the Ministry of Defence, with planning permission being sought for about 230 homes.

But the move have proved controversial as veterans want to keep some historical features and a presence on the site – and the Light Infantry Veterans campaign group has called for homes built to be made available to retired servicemen and women.

Shropshire Council has now pledged its support for at least some housing for ex-service personnel on the Shrewsbury site.

The report said: “The British Armed Forces are going through an extended period of major restructuring and change.

“On a smaller individual scale, this is a continuing aspect of military life, and something to which service personnel and their families learn to adapt. The epitome of being able to adapt is the infantry, its service personnel, veterans and their families.

“After more than 130 years, as part of today’s substantial restructuring of the Armed Forces, we now witness the end of its use as a military barracks.

“The gates finally closed on Copthorne in 2014 but that does not mean some of these iconic buildings - landmarks in Shropshire - have served their useful purpose.

“They too are capable of transitioning into civilian use. To the MOD Copthorne is a plot of land and buildings, one of many, listed on a spreadsheet representing homes and funding for necessary weaponry and equipment.

“To those who spent part of their lives within its walls, working and training on its fields, it represents the foundations of their lives today.

“Veterans, who once had to adapt to change when they transitioned into civilian life, created a vision for themselves of what shape that new life could take.

“Decades later some of those same veterans see a vision for some of Copthorne’s iconic buildings, which could help shape the future of younger generations of veterans carrying mental injuries of war, living alongside civilians creating a shared community.

“Veterans and the surrounding community see the covenant, local plans and needs – the MOD see a spreadsheet, budgetary constraints and developers.

“Change is always unsettling and disruptive, but how change is handled is as important as the aims such change is designed to achieve.

“It can mean the difference between success or failure.

“The purpose of this report is to highlight the areas which need improvement in the manner in which change is being managed by the MOD, and to give a voice to those currently not being heard.

“The goal is to arrive at a mutual understanding. The MOD, the garrison communities upon which their land impacts and has done for generations, and the veterans who create the heritage of armed service to this country must work in partnership, in order for mutually beneficial progress to take place if goals are to be achieved.”