29/02/2012 - Permalink

Potential sites for future development to be discussed

Related topics: Community

A major consultation is due to start in March 2012 on preferred sites for housing and employment development across Shropshire.

The consultation follows a huge amount of work between Shropshire Council and local parish and town councils since April 2010, when the draft Site Allocations and Management of Development (known as SAMDev) Plan was published.

Since then, parish and town councils and local communities have indicated whether they would like their area to have some future development, and landowners have suggested sites that they wish to be considered for development.

These views and sites have been considered by Shropshire Council planners, and the preferred options are now being put out to consultation for people to give their feedback.

A report is going to the council’s Cabinet on Wednesday 7 March 2012, which sets out the proposals and asks councillors to agree to go ahead with the consultation.

The aim of the SAMDev Plan is to allocate sites for various types of development and set out further detailed policies to guide future development across Shropshire up to 2026. This will ensure that all future development is appropriate to the size of the settlement, town or village.

Shropshire Council’s Cabinet member responsible for strategic planning, Councillor Mal Price, said:

“There is a major need for housing and economic development in Shropshire, and this plan aims to guide where that development might be built in the future.  We appreciate there will be a variety of views on these sites, and we are absolutely committed to listening to local people as we go through the consultation.

“There will be lots of ways to get involved.  There will be the usual round of public meetings, but also some more innovative ways to have your say which we will be announcing over the coming weeks.”

The report and appendices showing the preferred sites are part of the Cabinet meeting agenda (report 12) and can be viewed by clicking this link and scrolling down to the bottom of the page.