Shropshire Star

Draft neighbourhood plan to be revealed within days

A report setting out future development and plans for a village is set to be revealed in the coming days.

Published

The long-awaited Lilleshall Neighbourhood Plan, which will detail what kind of development the village near Newport supports, will soon be published, the parish council has claimed.

Councillor David Shaw, of Lilleshall Parish Council, said: "We have just finalised our draft plan to go to the website. We have got a meeting this week to sign it all off and hopefully that will be sorted by the weekend.

"Next week we will start putting it up on the website and all ready for consultation.

"Most of the feedback has been positive, a lot of people have wanted to get a plan sorted and that feedback has been "marvellous job"."

A questionnaire was sent out last year to residents in the area to find out what they wanted to see on the neighbourhood plan.

More than 50 per cent responded, calling for those developing the report to help preserve a village’s rural atmosphere and history.

Councillor Shaw said he thought people would be pleased with the result so far, which will go out for consultation for six weeks.

After that, it could be altered before being sent to Telford & Wrekin Council for approval.

He said: "People will be pleased because it does protect the community from invasive development.

"There is a genuine concern about the urban creep – or urban race, really – and that is a real concern for people and something we should be able to hold back.

"At the same time, we have to ensure that people have homes to live in, so it is about the right kind of balance."

The draft plan, which comes following comments from more than 500 people, will be subject to scrutiny once it has been published.

Residents in the area, as well as a number of statutory organisations and regulatory groups, will be able to comment on the proposals.

Councillor Shaw said: "After that, if it is necessary we can alter it.

"This is just for the neighbourhood. What we will do after the neighbourhood plan is a parish action plan with all the main projects and wants of the parish."

The plan is expected to be available to view from next week on the Lilleshall Parish Council website.

For more information visit www.hugofox.com/community/lilleshall-parish-council-7934/about-us