Shropshire Council wins 82% of planning appeals
New figures have revealed that Shropshire Council has won 82 per cent of the planning appeals it has faced in the last year.
The authority's cabinet member responsible for planning, Councillor Mal Price, welcomed the numbers which show that out of a total of 128 appeals over the last 12 months, only 18 per cent were allowed.
The number of appeals faced by Shropshire Council in the financial year 2015/16 was the third highest in the country, beaten only by Cornwall, where there were 213 appeals, of which 35 per cent were allowed, and Kensington and Chelsea where there were 148 appeals, of which 41 per cent were allowed.
Councillor Price said the figures were recognition of the work carried out by the authority's planning department.
He said: "We have faced what has seemed like an endless conveyor belt of planning appeals over the last year – something that didn't abate even after the SAMDev plan was adopted in December 2015.
"I'm extremely pleased, encouraged and reassured by our high success rate, and want to thank all of the council's planning officers that have worked on defending this exceptionally high number of appeals, in addition to dealing with high levels of planning applications.
"When you see the percentage of appeals allowed in other areas, it's clear that we have dealt with the surge in appeals extremely well and that we're getting it right nationally."
Councillor Price also said he hoped that developers who submit speculative appeals would reconsider.
He said: "I hope this will help to get across the message out to potential – and especially speculative – appellants that the council wins the argument in the vast majority of cases."
The figures also indicate that Shropshire Council compares favourably with its near neighbours with regard to planning appeals over the past 12 months.
In Cheshire East there were 97 appeals of which 40 per cent were allowed, in Cheshire West and Chester there were 79 appeals of which 29 per cent were allowed, in Herefordshire there were 69 appeals of which 25 per cent were allowed, and in Telford & Wrekin there were 20 appeals of which 20 per cent were allowed.
Earlier this year an appeal to build a large solar farm in the south Shropshire countryside was thrown out.
Government planning inspector Rosalyn Kirby ruled that the proposed 43-acre solar farm at Whitton, near Ludlow, would have too much of an impact on the surrounding landscape.
It was the first time a planning inspector had upheld a decision to refuse planning permission for one of five major solar farm projects put forward in the south of the county over the past two years.
