Demolition planned for Oswestry monument masons to make way for apartments as business looks to relocate

The planning application, submitted to Shropshire Council, proposes the single-storey building on the corner of Oswald Road and King Street would be demolished. 

The building, constructed in the 20th century, had once been a tyre garage but is now in use as a sales and workshop building for the masons where headstones are crafted and personalised.

The plans also involve the repurposing of a second building to the west of the site, the ground floor of which is used for fabrication and sandblasting while the first floor remains unused.

According to the application, the site is now "too large" for the existing operation, which employs three members of staff and attracts between two and 10 customers each day.

The plans state that Jones & Hughes Ltd will "relocate the business within the district" which would not impact upon the workforce or supply chain.

If the proposal is given the green light, and following the demolition, a new three-storey residential block of a "19th-century design" containing two, two-bed apartments on each floor would be built on the site of the first building.

The second, existing building would be "sensitively converted" to provide three, two-bedroom apartments across the two storeys.

The development would also provide one parking space per apartment for a total of nine spaces.

SLR Consulting Limited, who submitted the plans of behalf of Jones & Hughes Ltd, concluded the provision would "add to the much-needed housing stock".

They also argued the new build "attains an atypical 19th-century design" which is preferable to the current site "which acts as a blight on the local area".

The full application is available to view on Shropshire Council's planning portal using reference number 25/01209/FUL.