Dozens of people object to housing plans for Bayston Hill
Dozens of objections have been lodged against plans for a housing development in a village near Shrewsbury.
GH Davies Holdings wants to build 28 homes on a 1.4-hectare parcel of land south of Jarvis Drive in Bayston Hill. The company has submitted an outline planning application, with all other matters – except access – reserved for future consideration.
Documents suggest 20 per cent of the housing would be affordable, as well as public open space. There would also be “biodiversity net gain enhancements”, with the aim of “softening” the development into the wider landscape.
The proposed access is directly off Jarvis Drive, with the developer “assuming” that the adoption of the road is held within a backlog of applications held by Shropshire Council.
Pending the adoption of Jarvis Drive being resolved, it is proposed that the developer will seek to offer the new estate road for adoption.
A design and access statement said the site lies within flood zone one, indicating a low probability of flooding. There would be a drainage attenuation pond as part of the scheme.
A “root protection bridge” would also be added to allow the access road to enter the site without causing harm to an oak tree, while there is an opportunity for a connecting footpath to be provided through the site’s public open space.
Parrs Pool is located to the south of the site, set behind an area of woodland. However, the developer said the area would not be impacted by the proposed development. Planting has been proposed to further strengthen the “natural, green buffer”.
“The development proposal is located within Bayston Hill and would form a natural extension to the existing settlement,” said Immy Platt of agent Berrys.
“The site lies adjacent to the existing settlement development boundary and would form a natural extension to the south of Jarvis Drive.
“The proposal would logically infill a gap between Jarvis Drive, Fairview Drive and the recreation ground.
“Furthermore, Shropshire Council is currently unable to identify a five-year housing land supply, and therefore the presumption in favour of sustainable development is triggered, in line with the national planning policy framework.”
At the time of writing, all of the 51 comments submitted to the council were in objection to the scheme.
It comes after a development of 108 houses off Lyth Hill Road in Bayston Hill was approved in December.
A proposal for 210 homes in nearby Meole Brace – between the A5 and Pulley Lane – was also submitted last month, attracting 382 objections out of 387 comments lodged.
Commenting on the Jarvis Drive application, Councillor Teri Trickett, who represents Bayston Hill, said: “It proposes a suburban estate form arranged tightly around significant arboricultural constraints, requiring engineered root bridging, attenuation basins and drainage infrastructure to render the site developable.
“It would materially alter the character of the Shropshire Way and public footpath 20, concentrate additional traffic onto constrained local routes leading to Pulley Lane and Hereford Road, and fails to provide an agricultural land classification assessment necessary to weigh potential loss of best and most versatile agricultural land.
“Taken together, these matters demonstrate a constrained and engineered scheme that does not respond appropriately to its rural edge context. The proposal therefore conflicts with the objective of protecting countryside character and securing well-integrated, landscape-led development.”
