Council defers decision on Shifnal homes bid
Councillors have said they are "minded to reject" plans to build 66 homes in Shifnal because the town has been bombarded with housing developments.
Members of Shropshire Council's South Planning Committee deferred proposals to build the homes on land south of the A464 to allow them to look into ways they might be able to reject the plans due to the influx of development planned for the town.
At the moment, Shropshire Council does not have its five-year land supply which means council planning committees have been voting through housing development applications they are unhappy with for fear of being taken to appeal by developers, losing and making the local authority liable to pay costs.
Chair of the committee, Stuart West, the member for Shifnal South and Cosford, said: "This is yet another site in Shifnal's new urban sprawl.
"In itself this is a sustainable development site, but Shifnal is being asked to take more than its fair share.
"This will be another 66 properties crammed into a small market town.
"The site itself is not a problem, if this was single development being discussed without all the other developments, I would probably be minded to approve it.
"The problem is that we're getting more and more and more development.
"We're ending up with this urban sprawl and such a miss-match of different development.
"Shifnal does not have the road system to cope with what it has now, never mind these new developments.
"But we still have this problem of the five-year land supply and these developments are being put on towns across the country, not just Shifnal.
"I think this is an appalling thing for the Government to be doing and this will be their legacy.
"It is about time one of us stood up to the government, let it go to appeal and showed just how horrific the amount of development is.
"This is a disgraceful way to have to perform planning."
Councillors initially agreed they wanted to reject the proposals on the grounds of the cumulative impact that the number of developments being put forward for Shifnal has had.
Councillor David Turner said: "This town will be changed beyond recognition."
However, planning officers informed the council that a cumulative impact may not be enough to fight the proposals, as they were put forward in an area of land that had been earmarked for development in the recent SamDev draft for Shifnal.
Officer Richard Fortune said: "We can't hide from the National Planning Policy Framework.
"I would suggest deferring the proposal, saying you are minded to refuse."
Councillors agreed to defer the proposals, to give officers time in order to build up a challenge for the development on the grounds of the impact of the number of developments planned for Shifnal.
Councillor Cecilia Mottley said: "I have listened to the officers and I am prepared to agree to give them time to come up with ideas for us."
