Flooding and traffic fears over Shropshire village homes bid

Weston Rhyn Parish Council said the site next to the village's recreation ground was prone to flooding and the road system would not be able to cope with extra traffic.

The site, to the south of Aspen Grange, is used as farmland and has open fields on two sides, with the village recreation ground and children's play area to the south side.

Outline plans for the development were submitted to Shropshire Council for approval, but the parish council and several residents have objected to the scheme.

The plans have been recommended for approval, with conditions added to address the flooding and infrastructure issues.

Shropshire Council's north planning committee will discuss the issue on Tuesday.

Amanda Tuckwell, who has lived in Station Road for 13 years, said: "In that time I have seen a significant increase in speeding traffic up and down Station Road on a daily basis. This has resulted in many accidents and even more 'near misses'.

"The current road system is neither adequate or equipped to deal with another massive influx of traffic that 50 dwellings would invariably bring to this village.

"There are also the HGVs that would invariably be travelling on small village roads to the building site, causing massive disruption, inconvenience and noise pollution to current residents.

"We already have to deal with the large and frequent farm machinery, beer delivery lorries and other such wagons in the village without adding to this with the building contractors' vehicles."

Weston Rhyn Parish Council clerk Roger Dyke said members "fully support" residents' views.

He said: "In particular they highlight serious flooding issues on the present estate that have not been rectified, access to the development site by heavy construction vehicles and inherent dangers and the suitability of the Aspen Grange/Station Road junction for additional traffic.

"Furthermore they highlight additional traffic flow that will be created in Station Road and the failure of Shropshire Council to reclassify Station Road as a B class road despite repeated representations plus the adequacy of the village drainage and sewer infrastructure to cope with such a large increase in dwellings."

Although the site lies outside the current development boundary of the village it was earmarked for development under Shropshire Council's SAMDev proposals, which stated the site could accommodate up to 73 houses.

But the applicant, M Richardson & Partners, has planned a smaller development with part of the site set aside for public open space.