Concerns housing plan could make worries over World Heritage status a reality

The site, which was most recently home to Aga but is now abandoned and derelict, has a 300-year history of industrial work in the gorge.

The Shropshire Homes move comes because it claims Telford & Wrekin Council has taken too long to decide on the proposal – and means a hugely important decision has now been taken out of local hands, and will come from a government-appointed planning inspector instead.

The application, which was originally submitted in 2021, has proved controversial because of concerns raised by ICOMOS – the body which advises UNESCO on World Heritage Sites.

UNESCO is the organisation which bestowed the coveted 'World Heritage Site' status on the Ironbridge Gorge, but it also has the power to take it away, as seen in Liverpool in 2021.

The main concern for Ironbridge was voiced by the Government's own Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport in a letter in November 2022.

At that point it pulled no punches, warning Telford & Wrekin Council to listen to ICOMOS, amid concerns it could set the ball rolling towards World Heritage Site status being removed.

The letter said: "We would urge you to fully consider all the recommendations from ICOMOS and address them as far as is feasible.

"If the development goes ahead and ICOMOS’s concerns remain, there will be a risk that the World Heritage Committee judges the Outstanding Universal Value of the World Heritage Site to have been severely compromised. In those circumstances, it is likely that the site would be put on UNESCO’s List of World Heritage in Danger and, should the development continue, could ultimately be delisted as a World Heritage Site."

Amid the latest developments, Viv Moore, chair and trustee of Ironbridge and Coalbrookdale Civic Society, said she was concerned at the potential ramifications of the site being developed without ICOMOS' backing – and what that could mean for World Heritage Site status.

She has also encouraged representatives from ICOMOS to visit the gorge and speak to residents publicly about their concerns.

She said: "We value our heritage very much and we worry a great deal that if this development goes ahead ICOMOS' threat might become a reality."

Speaking about the prospect of representatives from the group speaking directly to residents, she said: "We are sure the community would very much value a meeting with ICOMOS."

Mrs Moore said public sentiment over the site had been expressed at a previous public meeting, with people vocally opposed to the current plans for the site.

She said a number of those attending had said they would prefer to see it left as a "heritage site in whatever format we can manage".