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26 January 2009

Too many houses are due to be built on green fields in Shropshire over the next twenty years. That's the verdict of CPRE Shropshire after the new Shropshire Council issued its options and choices for the future of the county [1].

Click for larger image

"We are being asked where the housing should go, but we are not being asked the most crucial question of all. How many new homes does Shropshire really need?" says Andy Boddington.

Shropshire Council has decreed that Shropshire needs 25,700 new houses over the next 18 years. [2] CPRE Shropshire believes this figure to be unjustifiably high and that it will lead to unnecessary loss of green fields. Nearly half the houses will be built in open countryside. [3]

"We are looking at housing that will swallow an area of green fields the size of Oswestry and Bridgnorth put together. South Shropshire will be particularly badly hit with more than two-thirds of new houses being built on open fields rather than previously used land." [4]

"We are particularly disappointed that the consultation documents talk only vaguely about percentages of development and do not give a clearer indication of how many houses the different towns and areas of Shropshire might expect. We need clearer data on housing numbers to help people make the choices the council is asking them to make."

"CPRE is not opposing further development in the county. Affordable housing in particular is needed urgently in our towns, villages and hamlets. But we need greater clarity from the council on what these options mean for the market towns and countryside of our beautiful rural county."

CPRE Shropshire has estimated the impact of the proposals on the county's market towns over the next 18 years (see map above). [5]

"People need to know that these proposals mean that Whitchurch, a town of little more than 4,200 houses, will grow by at least 1,400 houses, and perhaps by even as many as 2,500 houses. Is that what the people of Whitchurch want? This story is repeated in the towns across the county. Shrewsbury is to grow by 20% to 30%. Is that right for the town? Only when people see these figures will they be able to decide which of the council's options is best for where they live and for the county of Shropshire."

[1] The Implementation Executive for the new unitary Shropshire Council issued its Issues and Options paper for the Core Strategy on 26 January. Every planning authority has a statutory duty to develop a Local Development Framework (LDF) to guide development of houses, employment areas, roads etc. over twenty years. At the heart of the LDF is the Core Strategy. This sets out a vision for the future of the Shropshire, including how much development will be allowed and where it will go. The Issues and Options paper sets out ideas for this Core Strategy, which is due to finalised and adopted by February 2011. The consultation on the Issues and Options runs from 26 January to 9 March. The consultation documents are at: http://tinyurl.com/coreplan
[2] Shropshire Council's target of 25,700 was proposed by the West Midlands Regional Assembly and agreed by Shropshire Council's Implementation Executive in December. The WMRA proposal was made as part of an exercise known as Regional Spatial Strategy (RSS) Revision Phase 2.
[3] Approximately 13,400 houses will be built on greenfield sites, 52% of the total. Our analysis is based on the Sustainability Appraisal for RSS Revision Phase 2.
[4] Under RSS Revision Phase 2, 3,350 houses will need to be built on 144 hectares of greenfield land in South Shropshire. Analysis based on the Sustainability Appraisal for RSS Revision Phase 2.
[5] See map above. The estimates are calculated from Figures 6.1 and 6.2 in Shropshire Core Strategy: Issues and Options, and Figure 6.4 in Shropshire Core Strategy: Draft Issues and Options January 2009.

Let CPRE know your views

Please let us know your views on the Issues and Options paper. Email: cpre@cpreshropshire.org.uk or write to us at the address below.

Further Information

• The Issues and Options Draft
• The Core Strategy