Shropshire campaign group questions local plan review

The Campaign to Protect Rural England is questioning Shropshire Council’s Local Plan Review, and its approach to its development plans.

The council was holding its cabinet meeting today to decide the next steps for three big development sites, at Tern Hill Barrack, the former Ironbridge power station and the Bradford Estate near junction 3 of the M54, the latter on green belt land.

Council planners say the green belt land could be used for employment and housing land that would help fulfill the need for homes across the Shropshire border in the Black Country.

Charles Green, spokesperson for the CPRE, said: “Ever since its original publication in January 2017, we have queried major aspects of Shropshire Council’s proposed Local Plan Review.

“We call in to question the Council’s belief that there exists a need for Shropshire to court the Black Country local authorities where, apparently, there is insufficient capacity to accommodate all of its own development needs.”

“Shropshire Council should not be contemplating the release of Green Belt land for a need - not ours - that has yet to be tested, particularly when The Black Country is currently engaged in a call for sites.

“Furthermore, Housing Delivery Test figures for the West Midlands, in fact, show that the region as a whole is already at 138 per cent of its delivery requirement over the past three years, whilst Shropshire and its nine neighbouring English Local Authorities stand at 188 per cent delivery."

The CPRE Shropshire says that it is concerned about the sustainability credentials of Shropshire’s Economic Growth Strategy, the lack of the necessary evidence to release Green Belt land and Shropshire’s continued flying in the face of population forecasts.

"The plans might see in-migration to Shropshire being four times its current projected level," Mr Green said.

"We understand that these sites are already earmarked in the West Midlands Combined Authority’s Plan and that they will figure at the Midlands Development Conference in May.

“That suggests that any decision made today is simply an exercise in rubber stamping. That is why, in a public forum, we are again trying to hold Shropshire Council to account.”