Councillors seek more time to respond to Local Plan

Councillors in Bridgnorth believe they haven’t been given enough time to comment on a key strategic document that will help guide future development in Shropshire.

A consultation is underway that is seeking views on the first stage of Shropshire Council’s next Local Plan.

It comes after the previous one was withdrawn last year on the back of damning feedback from planning inspectors.

The scoping consultation – which started on May 20 – ends on July 15.

However, Bridgnorth Town Council believe it’s an extremely tight timescale.

“It does not allow sufficient time to prepare a considered a response to such an important document, one which will have major influences on

Bridgnorth‘s and Shropshire’s future development over the coming years,” said Councillor Ian Wellings, chairman of Bridgnorth Town Council’s planning committee.

“I am also concerned that Shropshire Council’s department of place may not currently have the necessary experience or capacity to prepare a document of this scale effectively.”

Councillor David Cooper added that previous Local Plans “have all been messy”.

“The consultation we have at the moment doesn’t ask for comments on specific sites or how much development should take place in Bridgnorth, but it is about the process and the methodology by which each site will be assessed,” he said.

“It is critically important we make an effective input at this stage.”

At an extraordinary meeting held on June 2, members voted to ask the town clerk to seek an extension from Shropshire Council. If that is not granted, then a town council meeting scheduled for July 21 will be brought forward a week, with the planning committee forming a working group to help prepare a response.

The same day saw the start of a series of drop-in events where people can learn more about the Local Plan process and ask questions.

In Ludlow, Colin Steward said the property market “is effectively divided in half”.

“You’ve got 50 per cent of people who are already in Ludlow, and they are looking to change their houses,” he said.

“That type of person doesn’t come into this much. Then you’ve got the person trying to look to come into Ludlow, but they don’t a five-bedroom, executive-style house which is what the developer is going to give you. So the whole thing doesn’t match up with the market.

“The other thing is the infrastructure. All the real hotspots in planning are along the A5 corridor, there isn’t anything like that along the A49 because there’s very little money being put in.”

Daniel Corden, principal planning policy officer at Shropshire Council, said the aim of the consultation is to ask people what the vision and spatial strategy should be in terms of the level and distribution of growth across the council.

“It’s also about the types of policies we should be looking to develop, the locations and how we assess sites, and the evidence base we should use to underpin the Local Plan,” said Mr Corden.

“We’ll be holding drop-in sessions over the next few weeks across Shropshire so all communities get the opportunity to come along.

“We’re also going to the Shropshire Association of Local Councils to raise it with the town and parish councils.

“The general questions have been a lot about the mix of housing we are looking to deliver, whether it’s meeting the needs of older people, or providing opportunities for younger people to get on the housing market, and also to get employment opportunities.

“We know we’ve got to deliver the amount of development government is aspiring to, but what we want to think about is how do we make that deliver the needs of our communities.”