New homes and employment land up for discussion

A major consultation is under way on preferred sites for thousands of new houses and new employment land 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.

For more information about the preferred sites follow this link.

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.”

Public meetings are being arranged over the coming months, and a Facebook page has been set up for people to discuss the plans, which can be seen by clicking here.