CPRE Shropshire
Protecting Shropshire
Shropshire Council is currently developing the Local Development Framework, which will guide planning in the county until 2026. On 9 August it issued the Core Strategy Policy Directions documents for public consultation.
1 October 2009
CPRE Shropshire responds to Core Strategy Policy Directions
In its response to Shropshire Council's consultation on the Core Strategy CPRE raised strong concerns about the level of housing proposed and policies for renewable energy. CPRE broadly agrees with the policies on development of Oswestry but remains concerned that Shrewsbury is destined to be overdeveloped.9 August 2009
“Good News for Shropshire’s Countryside. Bad News for Shrewsbury.”
That’s the initial reaction of the Campaign to Protect Rural England in Shropshire to the latest plans for Shropshire released today.
Andy Boddington for CPRE Shropshire says “There is a lot of common sense about revitalising Shropshire’s rural communities and market towns in these plans. The new Council has listened very carefully to concerns, expressed by ourselves and many others, that we must breathe life into the villages and hamlets where people who work locally can no longer afford to buy a home. That means affordable houses available near to where people work and new small workplaces to tucked into existing settlements.”
Andy continues. “The plan is pretty lousy news for Shrewsbury. Planners are still hell bent on trying to make it a town of “regional significance” with acres of sprawling development. Why can’t they see that Shrewsbury is a county town and a fabulous heritage asset? It does not need to sprawl like everywhere else. The danger with these plans is that Shrewsbury will become a town like any other, dominated by retail parks on a ring road, and swamped by new housing and employment sites.”
CPRE believes the current proposals will damage high quality landscapes and ecosystems, and place excessive pressure on the historic fabric of the town. Shrewsbury's town centre needs careful nurturing to preserve its distinctive retail environment, including its independent shops. These plans threaten the historic and natural environment of the town and could quickly lead to a town focused on its peripheral shopping and employment areas at the expense of its historic core.
Andy continues. “There is a lot of detail in this report and several things we would like to see changed. But for rural areas, it has got it broadly right. Shame about the county town.”
Further information
Unitary Planning Consultation | Regional Planning | Housing | Towns | Litter | Clutter | Tranquillity | Wind Farms | AONB
CPRE Shropshire, 11 Chestnut Grove, Ludlow, Shropshire SY8 1TJ
07771 801681. cpre@cpreshropshire.org.uk
Web design by River Tree Ideas