Shropshire Star

Residents urged to attend meeting over Shropshire town and village development

Residents are being urged to attend the next public meeting discussing plans for large-scale development in a Shropshire town and village.

Published

The results of previous consultations, information on Shifnal's GP and the next step for plans in Tong will all be considered at Shifnal Matters' meeting tomorrow.

Taking place at 7pm at Shifnal Village Hall, on Aston Street, the meeting will also serve to inform residents of the next consultation stage, which ends on September 9.

Shifnal Matters committee member John Moore said it is important people continue to express their views and concerns.

"Firstly we just want to get people together and update them on what's happening," he said. "So background on the past consultation will be discussed as well as our GP survey we conducted which we hope contributed to the positive decision to get the new doctors in Shifnal.

"Also we've really got to explain to people why there is this second phase of consultation and what it's about – there's a number of elements to it, some of which have no immediate effect and some that do."

The action group's GP survey gathered the views of 600 residents on the positive aspects of Shifnal's GP and where improvements could be made.

Controversial

The results were sent to Shropshire's Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) in addition to its own survey of about 150 people.

The proposals for Tong put forward by Shropshire Council would see an extra 3,000 homes and 50 hectares of employment land built off junction three of the M54.

Shifnal is the focus for a considerable expansion in Shropshire Council's local development plan, which sets out proposals for building 1,500 homes in the town until 2036.

Mr Moore added: "Then we'll come to the last bit which most affects Shifnal and is probably the most controversial, which is the vague proposal from Bradford Estates to build on about 150 hectares of land alongside the A41 and Stanton Road.

"The junction three proposals for 3,000 houses would be roughly 7,000 residents and the view of the CCG and the local education authority is that this isn't big enough to warrant an additional doctors or secondary school so you can immediately see that transport, parking, health and education are going to fall onto Albrighton and Shifnal.

"The aim of the meeting will be to inform people about what's happened, tell them what the next steps are and hand out the next load of consultation forms.

"It's vital people attend because if they don't come along there's the possibility that the lack of concern will allow for development which will add to the already extreme proposals in Shifnal and Tong and we cannot accommodate that."