New plan will shape future of Newport
A neighbourhood plan for the future of one of Shropshire's market towns is set to take a big step forward.
Newport is one of four parish or town councils in the Telford & Wrekin area now preparing neighbourhood plans to get more local people involved in the planning process.
Telford & Wrekin Council's cabinet is set to approve the next stage in the process, which is an application to designate the area covered by Newport Town Council as the plan's key area.
The cabinet meeting on Thursday has been recommended to approve the application.
Councillor Charles Smith, Telford & Wrekin Council's cabinet member for housing, regeneration and economic development, said: "Our role as a council is to check the plan conforms with legislation and regulations and ultimately adopt it as part of the borough-wide development plan."
Subject to approval, the Newport Neighbourhood Development Plan Steering Group will engage with residents and stakeholders to develop the plan through to full implementation.
The steering group's role is to identify local planning issues, develop objectives and proposals for the area, assess how sustainable the proposals are, consult local people and hold a referendum to decide whether or not the plan should be implemented.
A report to cabinet by Rachel Taylor, Telford & Wrekin's environment and planning team leader, said neighbouring councils had said they did not want to be part of the designated area, and keeping within Newport Town Council boundaries would make organising a referendum easier.
The scheme comes amidst concerns in Newport about the number of large-scale developments in the town which are currently going through the planning process.
Newport Civic Society has said it will only support applications for housing in the town on brownfield sites, until Telford & Wrekin brings forward a local plan for the future of the town.
Telford & Wrekin is about to start a borough-wide consultation about its Shaping Places local plan, which includes Newport.
More than 700 new properties have already been given the go-ahead in and around the town, many on green land, and plans for about 400 more houses are known to be in the pipeline.
The civic society says that those figures far exceed the 600 new homes set out for Newport between 2006 and 2016 in Telford & Wrekin Council's Core Strategy.
There is also an on-going legal battle over three separate plans for new supermarkets.
