New plans to demolish old Bridgnorth council HQ for housing
Fresh plans to demolish a former council headquarters for housing have been lodged after earlier proposals were refused on road safety grounds.
In its new application for the site of the derelict Westgate building, once the base of Bridgnorth District Council, housing association Homes Plus says it has addressed the concerns which led to the rejection of its previous scheme last year.
The decision of Shropshire Council’s southern planning committee to refuse permission for the development in January 2021 was partly down to seven of the properties having driveway access directly off Ludlow Road.
Despite no objections to the proposals from the council’s highways team, the committee’s decision was backed up by a planning inspector in December following a hearing.
Upholding the council’s refusal, the inspector said the driveways off Ludlow Road “would cause an unacceptable risk to highway safety, for pedestrians, cyclists and drivers”.
The revised layout shows the same number of houses – 30 – but with the driveways off Ludlow Road replaced with two shared access points for the seven homes fronting the road.
The remaining 23 properties would be accessed via the main entrance to the development off Wenlock Road, mirroring the previous application.
A planning statement by RCA Regeneration, agent to the housing group, says: “The applicants have taken on board the comments of the inspector in his decision letter and addressed them in the revised scheme that is now the subject of this resubmitted application.
“Given that the majority of the site was not of concern in design, character or living conditions there have been no changes made to the scheme, other than to the section of the site that would be accessed from Ludlow Road.
“Additional highway information has been included with this revised application to support the revised layout and the applicants firmly believe that the proposals now address all concerns.”
The properties will range from two to five bedrooms, and will include six affordable homes. The scheme also includes areas of public open space.
The revised plans will be decided by the council in due course.
The original application was made by South Staffordshire Housing Association, which has since merged with two other housing associations to form Homes Plus, part of Housing Plus Group.
