Garages to be demolished after Shrewsbury housing scheme backed

Severnside Housing has been granted permission to demolish 24 garages off Bell Lane to create the semi-detached houses, which will each be two-bedrooms and have two parking spaces each.

The properties will be sold on the open market to help fund the work of the social housing provider.

Members of Shropshire Council's central planning committee voted six to three in favour of the scheme getting the go-ahead, despite concerns being raised about the loss of the garage spaces for cars and the knock-on effect on parking in the local area.

Sixteen objections had been sent to the council about the plans, but Severnside Housing clarified to officers that only 11 of the 24 units were rented to people living within the surrounding areas of Cherry Orchard and Monkmoor.

Of the 11, four people had opted to take up garage leases in alternative areas and one unit was used for storage – leaving only six garages where local cars were being kept.

But Councillor Hannah Fraser, from the Abbey ward, told the committee that the scheme will add to local traffic problems.

"There have been many applications in Abbey ward, there will be more and each one makes it worse for the parking situation which is already bad," she said.

Councillor Andrew Bannerman said he sympathised with the comments and added he was concerned about the location of the homes close to a railway line and a main road, but said he did not think there were substantial grounds to refuse the application.

"In terms of the parking situation, it is pretty awful in almost every ward in the borough," he said.

Councillor Pam Moseley said she had been reassured that only six local cars would be moving from the garages. She added that issues about the location of the houses would be at the discretion of potential buyers.

"It is an open market site and people will choose whether they want to buy it or not," she said.