Protesters win village homes battle
Thursday 26th March 2009, 10:48AM GMT.
Campaigners were today celebrating after winning their battle against controversial plans for a new housing development in a Shropshire village.
Planners yesterday refused planning permission for the 25 new homes in Whitebrook Meadow, Prees.
The decision came after dozens of Prees residents turned out at a site meeting yesterday afternoon to protest over the plans for the new homes.
Objectors also turned out at the meeting of North Shropshire District Council’s development control committee with placards and banners to protest.
The housing estate, for the Bromford Housing Group, would have seen a mixture of homes, including several affordable houses, built on the site.
A Bromford Housing Group spokesman said the scheme aimed to promote affordable housing in Prees for those who need it.
But Ian Henderson, Prees Parish Council chairman, told councillors he was against the homes because it would increase the size of the village too rapidly, and homes would not be guaranteed to be sold to local people.
Councillors refused planning permission on the grounds the development would not enhance the area.
* Plans for an Aldi supermarket in Whitchurch were thrown out amid fears it could sound the death knell for small traders. Members of the development control committee refused to grant permission for Aldi to build a new foodstore on Meadow View Store, Waymills, because possible other sites have not been properly explored.
Shropshire Star on Twitter
Keep updated with the latest breaking news and content on our Twitter feed.
Lifestyle
Interactive Dining Out map
Hundreds of reviews by the Shropshire Star and Express & Star's teams to help you decide where to eat.
Entertainment
All the film reviews
Before you plan a trip to the pictures, get our critics' verdicts on all the latest movie releases.
OUR NEW APP
Get the new Shropshire Star app
Download the Shropshire Star’s new app to your iPad or iPhone to get one week of access to our digital newspapers absolutely FREE.
shropshirestar.com
Popular sections
Useful links
How can the chairman of the Parish Coucil object to a 25 home development on the grounds that it will have a significant impact on the population of the village and other protesters say that services such as doctors and Schools will be adversely effected by an increase in population, when on te same day in the same planning meeting a plan for 150 homes in the same parish using the same facilities schools / doctors etc goes unopposed by the same parish council? It would seem to me that it has nothing to do with the number of homes but the social class of the people who might move into the homes proposed by the housing association. “Shame on all you who protested” If you diverted your energy into welcoming and integrating new people te village your time would be better spent.
Report abuse
How many of the objectors are true life long residents of prees or interlopers ????.Must admit the objections are rather silly.
Report abuse
Here Here to the first comment in london etc teachers/nurses/police are getting priority to the social houseing list .Most in social houseing are hard working types not the type we are seeing in the bankrupt lists on a weekly basis .As stated the fur coat no knickers oiks who OBJECTED NEVER MOANED ABOUT THE OTHER PLANNING APPLICATION .Did the oiks know that middle class crime is the quickest growing problem in the uk .Blimey the crims could be comeing????
Report abuse
Well done everyone. Fight to keep Shropshire beautiful. It is not done by inviting the hordes in from big cities!
Such “so called facilities” to make people LAZY would alter the PSYCHE of SHROPSHIRE people.
Report abuse
Well done. Keep Shropshire rural. No more new houses for incomers.
Report abuse
we must never let labour build social housing in shropshire, let them put them in birmingham we want to keep our place nice
Report abuse
Well done – lets keep North Shropshire nice…..
Report abuse
Up until three years ago, there was a green public open space directly in front of our house. Agreeable it was, and during the summer months the local kids played cricket, rugby, and football on it. For no recompense, the parents of the kids who used it kept the grassed trimmed and tidy.
Then a planning application went in to the council. For the erection of houses on the land. Houses that, in number and elevational treatment (timber cladding and render), would be totally out of keeping with the surrounding residences.
My wife & I organised two petitions that were forwarded to the council. The first was accepted, and the proposal rejected. The second was ignored, no notification given of the plan to proceed, and for the last two years the erection of homes, whose design has been based on an urban regeneration project in the Glasgow maritime quarter, has been ongoing.
Bear in mind that we are talking about the construction of 26 dwellings that a competent builder could knock up in less that 12 months (I know; I’ve been in the construction industry for 20 years). But here we are, two and a half years later, with half-built eyesores facing us and with – I’d say, based on the build record, and the fact that windows have only recently been installed – another 2 years build left to complete.
To be left with homes and apartments, in the middle of an estate consisting of two-storey brick built houses, that have wooden cladding and render elevations, some of which are three storey, all of which have butterfly roofs (which, trust me, is not a good look), and that have been built by, what I would consider, a company fit to erect nothing more than a wendy house.
So a big pat on the back to the residents of Prees. I just wish a similar spirit of the people affected, and understanding of my council, were tabled in our community.
Report abuse
What a load of rubbish, Shropshire born people are having to move out to the cheaper cities and towns because there is no affordable housing in the villages they grew up in. It happened to me and most of my friends, sounds like it’s the same in this village. ALL you protesters should be utterly ashamed of yourselves, pushing out those who just want to stay living near their families.
Report abuse
Jeff- do you really think ANY of these houses would have gone to local people ? Fact is locals will ALWAYS be outbid by incomers becauses of low average wages in rural areas.
Report abuse
Patrick they were affordable homes the objectors who i bet are interlopers and have stuffed genuine local peoples need for affordable homes .
Report abuse
Patrick, yes i do think local families would have bought the houses and people from out of the area, but keeping the prices high in these villages means that kids don’t get a chance to live near parents so move away and then when the parents die or move to be near their kids, you no longer have local people living there at all. The village i came from is full of very expensive housing and the only new builds are over the £500 000 price mark. What a joke, these people should feel utterly ashamed of themselves.
Report abuse
‘Affordable’ to locals means ‘very cheap’ to incomers. I’ve got no problem with providing homes for genuine local people but this doesn’t happen in reality.
Report abuse
Yes great idea, keep out all the young locals, make the place only available to the rich from OUT OF THE AREA! These people want it all for themselves. So how do young couples from the area afford homes near their families? Patrick may be you can answer that question for me.
Report abuse
“Patrick may be you can answer that question for me”
Easy – council houses , or the modern equivalent.
And I’m not in favour keeping out the young locals, quite the opposite in fact. What I object to is building in Shropshire to accomodate out-of-area people who are going to probably commute back to urban evey day for work !
Report abuse
You can’t control that problem Patrick. But if the only housing available to buy is really expensive then you are only going to attract out of area people, moving to your area to retire. And why is it that young working couples only deserve council houses? We want to buy our homes and then move up the property ladder, but people like you will stop this happening. The only reason you say build council houses is because you know that’ll never happen in your area, you’ll all protest about that too. You are all NIMBYS!
Report abuse
How can anyone protest about low cost housing in their area? This seems very unfair. Without it you lose the young members of the community and end up with nothing but retired folks. What a sad bunch these protesters are.
Report abuse
Low cost housing is only effective if you can restrict it to locals. That’s the point I’m trying to make. If it’s available to incomers they will always outbid the locals. There is no end to the demand from outside the area – you are not going to decrease prices by increasing supply, you’ll simply end up destroying the very thing that makes the area pleasant in the first place.
Report abuse
partick coucil houses???? in 2009 i do not think so . Houseing association homes is the only way forward rent , rent/half own. Any one who wants one can put their name down as they are not means tested and over half must be allocated to locals born and bred PRIORITY DOWN SOUTH GIVEN TO ESSETIAL WORKERS ETC .All said and done though when the torys get in all houseing associations tennets will have the right to buy. But giving in to a load of in coming oiks is not the answer.
Report abuse
Council housing worked fine for years, until it was sold off to buy votes (I’m sure “New” Labour would have done the same)
Report abuse
HA will also be sold to buy votes .They do not build councill estates any more patrick thats history , If they build an estate it has usually 10/12 affordable homes for rent or half rent and half/buy you cant discriminate. And thats how you do not get run down areas etc although i do think some people like run down areas in order to make them feel as though they have achieved somthing.
The fact is some object as they see HA as modern council estates which they are not its been 27 years since councill houses were sold off and many people decide to hide their past . A friend of mine bought a house in a culde-sac 325k his neighbor objected to the fact he parked his van in his own driveway his objection it looks like a council estate and will attract the oiks that live on them . When i pointed out to my friend the oik with the high opinion of himself was brought up on one of the rough councill estates and infact had his very own councill house which he had sold 7 years ago in order to get on the property ladder mmmmmmmm. That sums up most objectors they forget their roots and oh dear get their piks in the paper
Report abuse
But Patrick, you have made sure that only rich retired types can buy housing in Prees. Stop trying to make out you care about young locals staying in the area. You just don’t want those on a low income.
Report abuse
“But Patrick, you have made sure that only rich retired types can buy housing in Prees”
How did I do that exactly ? I don’t live in Prees and I wasn’t a ‘protester’, nor do I claim to speak for them.
I’ve just made the point that mass housebuiding in rural areas is not going to solve the problem unless the new houses are strictly limited to local people. Without restrictions incomers will inevitably outbid locals for ALL new housing – cheap or expensive. Building ‘affordable’ houses just means that even more people from outside the area will be able to consider moving in.
Report abuse