Flooding and safety fears over Ludlow homes bid

Opposition is mounting against plans to build on 17.7 hectares of land around Foldgate Farm to the south of Ludlow, as neighbouring streets already suffer from sewerage and flooding problems.

To add to fears, residents are worried permission to build could open the door to twice the amount of housing as the 150 homes suggested by land agents Richborough Estates is only a speculative proposal.

Vivienne Parry, Shropshire councillor for Ludlow South said: "An application is going to be put through but then given to other builders, so where they've got all these nice parks on the plans, that could change and those could be filled in with houses.

"We could end up with 300 homes there."

She said a major worry for any new development there was road safety, with access to the new site planned to come directly off the main A49 road with no roundabout.

"There are cars going by at 60 to 70 miles per hour there and if there are hundreds of houses that will be a lot of traffic," she said.

She said there was already a problem with lorries coming off the A49 at Foldgate Lane and getting stuck with nowhere to turn as they faced a 20 foot drop ahead at the end of the road, and she said residents worried a new estate there would only encourage more traffic to head toward the precipice.

Aside from traffic, the sewer system at nearby Mary Elizabeth Road already had "terrible drainage" that could not cope, she said, with sewerage coming back up through toilets on the street, and there had been flooding problems on Steventon Road below from water flushed down from the site in the past.

"It used to blow the top the tops off the drainage system. I've see a grill fly off 20 feet into the air," she said.

She said that had stopped since new, bigger pipes had been put in, but they still got blocked and a new housing development could exacerbate the problem again.

At a recent meeting to discuss the proposal only six of about 60 people who attended said they would be happy to see building there due to all the issues.

But Richborough Estates say the new houses would help meet housing needs in Ludlow, the site is considered to be sustainable and plans are only for "up to" 150 houses.

The proposal would create new public open spaces for Ludlow residents and be a boost to the "vitality and viability" of local retail and service providers, the firm says.

The site is not on a floodplain and does not include any areas of archaeological or historical sensitivity.