Angry Shropshire villagers protest at 'community hub' designation over new homes

People from villages including Longden, Cross Houses, Clive, Trefonen and Ford have submitted objections to their new designations under the draft Shropshire Local Plan. They say they don't have the services to support development.

The local plan is being put under a line by line scrutiny for two weeks, and this will be followed by a second phase of scrutiny that will look at individual housing sites. The first two weeks, which began on Tuesday, comes to an end next week.

Concerned Longden residents have told the planning inspectors that "the Longden Village Action Group and the large majority of residents of Longden village feel strongly that the Hubs and Clusters system is not justified, not effective and is flawed".

Even though the council says it wants to put the majority of 30,800 new homes in the next 16 years in urban areas, Shropshire Council says building in rural areas is also important. Planners have devised a points system for services like libraries and bus services to decide who gets the status of a community hub. Objectors say it is flawed.

Longden, south west of Shrewsbury, has been given an allocation of 50 new dwellings but as some of them have already been built, space will need to be found for 27. Campaigners say they are not sure where they can be accommodated and that the village has already taken many new homes.

Longden residents Jeanette and Tony Hooper told the inspector: "We are a small village, with only 135 residential dwellings. To become a Community Hub is ridiculous. We are a very small and old village, first mentioned in the Domesday book, only a fraction of the size of all the other hubs in the area, and only half the size of the next smallest proposed hubs."

Ford, near Shrewsbury, is also being proposed as a "Community Hub" and the parish council there say it is not “a significant rural centre”.

Ford Parish Council, in its submission, said: "Existing services cannot meet the day-to-day needs of a growing community and there is no major employment. Inclusion of Ford as a Community Hub would be contrary to the plan’s strategic aim to promote an 'urban focus' in Shropshire. Ford should remain open countryside."

Clive Parish Council says it has "consistently made the case that the designation of Clive as a Community Hub is based on a false understanding of the available community infrastructure. Numerous items of correspondence between Clive Parish Council and the local planning authority have pointed out that the village no longer has a shop or bowling green.

"The correspondence has provided evidence that these two facilities have been permanently lost and that there is no hope of their re-opening."

Trefonen Rural Protection Group said that they have "submitted details of known inaccuracies" that have been used to determine settlement status.

James Healey, from Cross Houses, said: "The residents of Cross Houses have had to put up with large housebuilding sites in the village for several years now with all the problems this entails such as increased traffic, construction traffic noise and fields where we were once able to walk our dogs being turned into housing estates.

"I believe that the majority of residents in Cross Houses do not want any more large scale development of their village."

Mr Healey, speaking at the public hearing on Thursday, asked planners if assurances could be given to Cross Houses that they would not have to take any more development.

Eddie West, representing Shropshire Council, was unable to give Mr Healey any such assurances.

"When the local plan is reviewed we may have to look at that again," he said.

Mr Healey said that Cross Houses would be very concerned at the prospect.

Planning inspector Louise Crosby said any changes would need a full consultation to be carried out by the council.

The inspectors will be considering the submissions before coming to a conclusion the draft Shropshire Local Plan.