Developer wins right to build homes on north Shropshire village site as inspector reverses decision to refuse

The land off The Parklands, in Cockshutt, near Ellesmere had been subject to a planning appeal nine years ago which was turned down – but circumstances have changed since then, an inspector found.

Inspector E Worley said a key issue was that Shropshire Council could not prove that it had enough land to satisfy housing demands over the next five years. The developer appealed after Shropshire Council rejected the plan.

The inspector told opponents and developer JS Construction that council planning policies from as long ago as 2011 were used in the assessment.

“The appeal submissions indicate that the draft Shropshire local plan was submitted for examination in September 2021,” the inspector wrote.

“However, following the stage 2 hearing sessions, examining inspectors have expressed concern regarding the soundness of the plan.

“I therefore consider that limited weight should be given to the emerging policies in the draft local plan at the current time.”

Inspector E Worley said that the provision of additional housing “may be capable of providing community and economic benefits, particularly in the current circumstances where the council has confirmed that it cannot demonstrate an adequate supply of housing land”.

The inspector confirmed that the proposed development would “conflict with the development strategy and would not be in a suitable location having regard to the development plan as a whole”.

But the council “confirmed that it cannot demonstrate an adequate supply of housing land, with the current number of years supply being 4.73”.

In those circumstances the inspector wrote that “planning permission should be granted unless any adverse impacts of doing so would significantly and demonstrably outweigh the benefits”.

And the inspector added: “In this case, the adverse impacts in terms of the technical conflict with the development plan would not significantly and demonstrably outweigh the benefits.

“Therefore, the proposal would benefit from the presumption in favour of sustainable development.”

The inspector, in a decision announced in July, said they had been made aware of earlier schemes for residential development at the site.

These had included a “proposal for similar development which was refused by the council and subsequently dismissed at appeal”.

The inspector added that the inspector in that case found that the proposal would result in an “unjustified encroachment of built development into the countryside”.

But this time, the new inspector wrote that given “observations on site regarding the present site context” they “reached a different conclusion”.