Shropshire Council set to decide on 1,000-home garden village plans

Shropshire Council's cabinet is meeting to discuss its local plan, which includes proposals for a garden village, made up of more than 1,000 homes, at Tasley outside Bridgnorth.

The authority's proposals for Bridgnorth have attracted criticism since they were unveiled, and have recently involved a surprise switch.

Initially the authority had proposed a garden village on green belt land at Stanmore, as well as an expansion of the industrial estate.

But, a late switch has seen council officers drop the Stanmore plan and instead back Taylor Wimpey's proposals for a 1,050-home garden village at Tasley.

Plans to remove land from the green belt at Stanmore are still being proposed, but only for the expansion of the industrial estate.

Local councillors have reacted with anger at the switch and today the council's cabinet will decide whether to back the officers' recommendations.

Lord Gavin Hamilton, owner of the Apley Estate, which had been working on the Stanmore proposal that would have seen up to 850 homes built on his land, with plans for another 650 to follow, said the decision to back Tasley "totally ignores" the views of the town's councillors.

He criticised the switch and the fact that there had been no physical consultation over the Tasley plan, with Taylor Wimpey unable to host one due to the pandemic.

Referring to the council officers' decision to back the rival plan, he said: "Worryingly they have done this without any consultation on the details of the Tasley proposals by the council and only a minimal amount by the developer – at a time when the country was locked down and people had other issues to worry about."

Campaigners from Save Bridgnorth Green Belt, who have been against the Stanmore plan, have argued that the town does not need either development, and the level of expansion is unrealistic and unsupported by the public.

They have said they will take legal action over any move to use green belt land for development.

Lord Hamilton said their development would not be a 'generic' housing estate, and would "reflect Bridgnorth's heritage and special qualities".

He said: "The proposals we have put forward for Stanmore reflect the principles of the Building Better, Building Beautiful Commission. The architecture will have character, complementing local styles. We will maintain high standards and appearance by producing a definitive design guide, with every building at each phase meeting its high-quality design criteria.

"We will not develop a 'generic' housing estate that has no individuality and could be anywhere in the UK. We want Stanmore to reflect Bridgnorth’s heritage and special qualities. We have no allegiance to a housebuilder and are free to engage local and specialist firms to deliver housing.

"This will ensure that we deliver imaginatively designed homes with gardens, good access, the facilities people want and plenty of open spaces to encourage healthy communities. We will commit to managing these open spaces on behalf of the town."

The cabinet meeting is also set to decide not to go ahead with plans for 3,000 homes on green belt land north of Junction 3 of the M54, and west of Tong, but Shifnal campaigners are gearing up for a lengthy battle with recommendations for expansion of the town included in the proposals.