Part of Shrewsbury's Copthorne Barracks to be demolished

Forty buildings will be knocked down at the barracks if Shropshire Council gives the go-ahead.

The Defence Infrastructure Organisation, part of the MoD, wants to remove a range of buildings such as stores and offices, single living accommodation buildings and sports and welfare buildings. Boundary walls would be retained to ensure the security of the site, which is currently up for sale.

The closure of the site was announced in 2013, but In March 2013, the then Secretary of State for Defence, Philip Hammond announced in Westminster that Copthorne Barracks, an existing Ministry of Defence (MoD) site, would close by 2015.

The site was identified as having no envisaged future military use, due to the relocation of military and civilian staff to MoD Donnington in Telford, in which case a decision had been taken to close, and subsequently dispose of the site.

However, it was decided that part of the barracks has been retained for the Army Reserve.

Jeremy Eaton of the Defence Infrastructure Organisation, said: "The existing buildings within the subject site no longer serve any operational function, in which case are redundant.

"The Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO), who manage the site on behalf of the MoD, are still liable to maintain the existing non-operational buildings, and ensure there are no health and safety issues with the buildings or site.

"In order to remove this liability, it is proposed to demolish the buildings and structures within the site, with the exception of the boundary enclosures which will still be required in order to ensure the security of the site.

"It is proposed that the buildings and structures will be demolished in a single phase of works with an initial soft strip out including for any deleterious materials followed by mechanical demolition of the buildings and structures, removal of floor slabs and foundations. Upon completion, site is to be graded to areas where buildings have been removed and finished with topsoil and grass seed."

If planning permission is granted it is expected that the demolition would not begin until mid August at the earliest and would take upwards of 12 months.