Anger over plans for Shropshire village homes
Villagers are being "betrayed" by housing development plans which are taking advantage of Shropshire's lack of a five-year land supply, it has been claimed.
Tony Tudor, chairman of Condover Parish Council, today hit out at "opportunistic" housing developers who are planning to build on sites in Dorrington not allocated for building.
The applications are due to be decided by Shropshire Council's central planning committee on Thursday and are likely to be approved due to rules favouring development in areas where there is not a large enough supply of potential housing land.
Three proposals affecting Dorrington and one related to Uffington will be decided on.
Mr Tudor said the parish council, was angry its work on identifying sites was being overridden.
The largest proposal to be discussed on Thursday is an outline application to build 19 homes on land off Falkland Road in Dorrington.
Further applications for outline planning permission for two homes off Limes Paddock and two homes on land at Jubilee Farm, both in Dorrington, and one for six houses on land south of Old Top Cottages in Uffington will also be looked at.
Under the National Planning Policy Framework, councils with not enough development land set aside for the next five years can only reject a scheme if it can be proved it will damage the local environment. Shropshire Council are just under the target, with 4.95 years of land available.
Local authorities are also liable for legal costs should they refuse an application which is later successfully appealed.
The council is close to finalising its SAMDev plan, which is intended to guide housebuilding in the county up to 2026, with the proposals being in development since 2010.
Hundreds of meetings with the public have taken place on the proposals, with communities approving sites where they believe development could take place. But developers are now submitting applications for sites not included on the draft SAMDev plans.
Mr Tudor, whose council area includes Dorrington, said: "We are absolutely horrified. They are opportunistic and are taking advantage of a situation outside our control. We have done a parish plan and a lot of public consultation.
"We have allocated space for 32 homes in Dorrington. We feel we have done our part and in many ways have been betrayed.
"It is very frustrating and very annoying."
He said the applications going forward this week could pave the way for further development.
"It is the start," he said.
"Once they have established a site, there will be other applications."
