Go-ahead for 15 homes on Oswestry site
Plans to build 15 affordable homes on the site of a former tax office in Oswestry have been given the go-ahead, despite road safety concerns.
The apartments will be built at Plas Ffynnon, 12-14 Middleton Road, which is currently a private residence, after plans were approved by Shropshire Council's north planning committee at a meeting in Wem yesterday.
Simon Britten. of Shropshire Trading Ltd, applied to create two and three bedroom family flats, a parking area and cycle storage. Part of the building will be demolished to make way for the car park.
Martin Bennett, Shropshire councillor for Oswestry East, said the scheme could increase the risk of a crash on the narrow junction with Ambleside Road.
He said: "We have a lot of elderly or people with pushchairs that will have to cross to get along the road because there is a grass verge on one side and no pavement.
"We have seen highways improvements for traffic but nobody has thought about the poor pedestrians."
The plans also led to letters of objection from 17 residents and Oswestry Town Council, which claimed the scheme would increase pressure on the Middleton Road/Salop Road junction.
It said access to and from the site would be 'extremely dangerous' with limited visibility.
But Councillor Joyce Barrow, who used to live in Ambleside Road, said the building was 'drab and shabby' and under the proposals it would put it to good use.
She said more than 100 people used to be employed at the site and as far as she was aware there had been no accidents.
Plans for a home at Styche Valley Farm in Longslow, near Market Drayton, have also been approved despite being recommended for refusal by officers.
Members of the committee went against the concerns of officers that the house would be in an area of open countryside.
Styche Valley Services applied to build the home so that the farm workers, a family of five including three children under the age of five, could stay on the farm instead of renting a nearby bungalow.
They had been deemed in need of housing, but planning officers said the plans were not in the correct location.
But Councillor Paul Wynn said it was an 'ideal site' and councillor Gerald Dakin said it would be beneficial for the family to look after their animals and help the security of the animals.
