Bid to build 220 homes on old Shrewsbury hospital site
Plans to build almost 220 houses and apartments in Shrewsbury's former Shelton Hospital and its grounds will be officially submitted within weeks, it has been announced.
Shropshire Homes wants to build hundreds of properties at the site of the former Victorian asylum over the next four years after agreeing a deal in principle with South Staffordshire and Shropshire NHS Foundation Trust.
The site has been shut since September 2012 when in-patient mental health services transferred to the new £46 million Redwoods mental health centre nearby.
Speaking at a public consultation event on the plans, Howard Thorne, managing director of Shropshire Homes, said planning permission would be submitted next month for the scheme.
Construction work could start by the end of this year should planning permission be granted by Shropshire Council, with the entire scheme taking four years to complete.
Detailed plans for how the site will potentially be transformed were revealed for the first time at the meeting on Friday.
Dozens of people attended a public drop-in event at Christ Church Community Hall on Welshpool Road, where proposals showing how the planned development would look were on display.
It is intended the Grade II-listed 19th century buildings on the site will be retained and converted into 140 houses and apartments.
Newer 20th century buildings on the site will be demolished, with 78 houses of between two and four bedrooms built in the grounds. It is intended the development will include 15 affordable properties.
The chapel on the hospital site will be turned over for community use, with ideas being sought from the public on what it could become.
Access to the homes would be created from a roundabout on Welshpool Road, while a new road access would be built on Somerby Drive with the existing road on to the site removed.
It is intended there would be footpath links through the site to provide access to the nearby Oxon School.
As part of the plans, a new bowling green with a clubhouse would also be created next to the site. Mr Thorne said that would be built for when the existing bowling green was closed.
He said between 50 and 100 people would be employed on the construction site at any time during the building period, which is expected to last up until 2018.
Mr Thorne said: "It is brilliant land in terms of where it sites in Shrewsbury and the site. It will be a great place to live."
He said there would be "less traffic than when the hospital was there" when the housing development is completed.
The proposals attracted a mixed reaction from people who attended the consultation event.
Sherlie Haycox, 60, from Bicton Heath, said she was pleased a local developer was taking on the scheme and said she liked the designs that have been put forward.
"They will make some wonderful apartments or houses in the old buildings," she said. "I think they will be sympathetic to the buildings."
Karen Pearce, who lives on Racecourse Lane, said while she supported the principle of redeveloping the existing buildings, she was concerned about the potential loss of open public space through the additional houses and apartments planned for the grounds.
She said she wanted to examine the proposals in more detail. Jackie Bradley said she was concerned about the development's impact on the already busy Racecourse Lane, where she lives and which is home to Oxon Primary School.
"The road is a nightmare at the moment with the traffic. Something needs to be done there," she said.
"You are putting your life at risk going to school as it is without extra traffic."
Andrew Hughes, project director for the South Staffordshire and Shropshire NHS Foundation Trust, said his organisation was in support of the proposals, which would see the houses built close to its new Redwoods Centre.
"We believe it is a good way of preserving an existing asset," he said.
"We are neighbours too. We are just as keen to make sure whatever is put forward represents people's aspirations.
"I have been project director for the Redwoods Centre since 2009.
"It has been a major topic of discussion on what is going to happen with Shelton.
"We do respect people's concerns if there are any.
"We believe it is going to be good for the area."
