Town council in furious opposition to 300-home plan over gridlock fears

A town council has issued a furious objection to proposals for 300 new homes over its concerns about traffic gridlock.

Much Wenlock Town Council has filed a second formal objection to plans from Boningale Developments for a major housing development on land off the A458 Bridgnorth Road on the outskirts of the town.

A decision on the plan will ultimately be taken by Shropshire Council.

The letter from the town council comes after Shropshire Council’s highways department said it would not be objecting to the scheme over traffic issues.

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The Shropshire Council highways report, which runs to more than 5,000 words, says changes to the access plans off the A458 are acceptable - using a staggered ghost island priority junction instead of a four-arm roundabout.

But it is the authority’s position on the development’s impact on the Gaskell Corner junction that has drawn a stinging response from the town council.

In a statement published at the end of last month Shropshire Council’s highways department said that while the development would “inevitably generate additional traffic” and that concerns about the Gaskell Corner junction are “understandable” it believed the issues with the route are down to the existing levels of traffic, forecast growth in road users and other planned developments “rather than this proposal alone”.

The report said the council verdict came after reviewing a traffic assessment from the applicant.

It stated: “It is recognised that the proposed development will inevitably generate additional traffic and that concerns regarding cumulative traffic growth are understandable, particularly in relation to the operation of the Gaskell Arms junction and the wider A458 corridor.

“The cumulative assessment submitted by the applicant has therefore been reviewed in detail, including the assumptions relating to committed development, forecast traffic growth and junction operation.

“Whilst the development contributes additional traffic to the surrounding highway network, the Highway Authority is satisfied that the principal operational constraints identified within the cumulative assessment arise from existing conditions, forecast background growth and other committed development, rather than from this proposal alone.”

In its objection the town council questioned the traffic modelling, and said an alternative method should have been requested. It added that it believes the development will have a significant impact on the Gaskell Corner junction.

Shropshire Council’s highways department’s response said it was happy with the method used to assess the consequences of the proposals.

It said: “The Highway Authority is therefore satisfied that the submitted modelling provides a reasonable and proportionate assessment of the cumulative transport impacts associated with the proposal.”

The town council objection stated: “Much Wenlock Town Council disagrees strongly with the highways decision to raise no objection to this application; in particular, we believe that highways refusal to demand a full and accurate assessment of the impact of the Boningale development at the Gaskell Corner junction is completely wrong and will lead to serious delays at the junction and a significant increase in rat-running through the town.”

It added: “It should be remembered that, unlike the formally committed developments of Ironbridge Power Station, Tasley Gateway and Tasley Garden Village, the Boningale development is an oversized, intrusive speculative development that has only come forward because of the lack of an adopted local plan. And yet somehow, the highway authority demands no proper detailed assessment of the impact and even excludes a financial contribution from the list of conditions.”

The town council said Shropshire Council’s requests will not provide the true picture of the impact from the development, stating: “In the opinion of Much Wenlock Town Council, Shropshire highways has, once again, failed to establish the true traffic and highways impact of the development proposals that affect the town of Much Wenlock.”

A decision on the application will be taken at a later date.