Controversial Ludlow superstore plan one step closer

Shropshire Council highways officers were the latest to give the go-ahead to plans for a 25,000sq ft (2,322sq m) store at Rocks Green.

It would be the town's biggest supermarket if it goes ahead, after both conservation and ecology experts also said they had no objections.

But campaigners against the store, including town centre residents and traders, fear planning permission will now be granted only for the site to stand empty for years as has happened with a proposed Tesco store in nearby Tenbury Wells.

The supermarket and petrol station plans were first submitted by Blackfriars Developments in December 2014 and had previously stalled for months over concerns for historic farm buildings that would be knocked down.

However, this was resolved last month when conservation officers agreed the buildings were of low historical significance.

But campaigners also raised fears over the increase of traffic around the A4117 road off the busy A49 at Rocks Green roundabout.

However, yesterday a report from Shropshire Council's highways department said that, with improvements, "the surrounding highway network is adequate to accommodate both the access to the store petrol station and the residential development to the west of the proposed site".

The report says there were no highways objections to granting the store permission in principle, as long as improvements to the Dun Cow Road junction onto the A4117, and a mini-roundabout, are submitted for approval before building starts.

Dan Lloyd, chair of Ludlow Civic Society, said: "My feeling, and the town's feeling, is that market forces are against it.

"But if there is no resistance from Shirehall, despite serious concerns from those in the town, it will be market forces that decide it."