Housing, student accommodation and offices: Shrewsbury's Dana Prison and Copthorne Barracks set for redevelopment
Two of Shrewsbury’s major historic sites will be transformed into housing, student accommodation and offices after plans were approved.
Developers behind plans for both the Dana Prison and Copthorne Barracks can now proceed with their plans, which were approved by Shropshire Council’s central planning committee yesterday.
The Dana application will see the former prison become student accommodation, flats, office space – and, potentially, a restaurant.
The approval marks the end of a protracted dispute over the development, which was previously rejected by the committee over concerns about a lack of parking space and the effect on nearby roads.
Councillor Alan Mosley, who represents the Castlefields ward in which the prison sits, said he was pleased that the prison’s owners had listened to the pleas for change.
He said: “Well, it was expected because Trevor Osborne has addressed many of the very important issues that myself and local residents have been expressing since the original proposals went in. What we have got now is a far better set of proposals than went in as outline and we can now carry on discussions over the detail of the site.”
The proposals include converting the gatehouse into three residential units, the A wing to student accommodation – with a maximum of 109 and a minimum of 88 units – B and D wing into 16 apartments and C wing into 16 student rooms.
Under the plans the prison kitchen will become either retail space or a restaurant, the education block and workshop building will be demolished for a four-storey residential block with 30 apartments and there will be car parking on the ground floor. A gym will also be retained, while the Lancastrian School will become 11 apartments. Two new buildings will house offices and residential units, while there will also be 91 car parking spaces on site.
Proposals for Copthorne Barracks were also passed, although they will have to go back before the committee for reserved matters to be agreed due to concerns from councillors about the loss of historic aspects of the site – particularly the parade ground and the officers’ mess.
Councillors were also asked to ensure that some portion of the affordable housing on the site, which will be made up of 228 homes and 45 retirement apartments, is made available to veterans. Under the plans 45 of the homes will be affordable and councillors said they wanted to see 20 per cent available for former members of the armed forces.
Norman McGuigan, who served in the First Battalion of the Light Infantry from 1979 onwards, was part of a campaign group instrumental in securing the amount of affordable housing for the site.
He said he had spoken to a potential developer who was said it is keen to retain the historical elements of the former military base.
The plans did face criticism from Porthill councillor Julian Dean, who billed them as a “missed opportunity”.
He said: “My general point is just about a lost opportunity. We have a major brownfield windfall site and we do not seem to have a plan of our own; we are just faced with a plan from the Ministry of Defence.”
Committee member Councillor Kevin Pardy said he wanted to see the historic elements of the site retained, despite Historic England’s decision not to call for their retention.
He said: “I do not care what Historic England say. This is Shropshire’s history and at the very least we need to have some form of sculpture or memorial there.”
He added: “Also, the officers’ mess is a fantastic building and to lose that would be to lose a wonderful piece of history.”
