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Housing

The simple uncomfortable truth is that, Nationally and locally, not enough houses are being built. Affordable houses to rent and buy are in short supply.

For people looking to get on the housing ladder house price growth is outstripping local wages and people’s capacity to save for a deposit is diminishing all the time.

Beyond that houses need to be built in the proper places, and residents need to a have a stronger voice in the process, before applications are even submitted. All too often Shropshire Council’s planning system has been development lead with little real urban planning for the long-term. Only recently they failed to sort out their 5-year land supply and had to allow hundreds of houses to be built anywhere, including in West Felton.

Shropshire Council is now in the process of updating their sites to meet the needs for the next plan period.

Strategically they are still failing to deliver affordable housing. Community led housing on exception sites provide a better way to deliver affordable housing. Shropshire Council has consistantly failed to deliver the numbers of affordable houses we need. They aren’t planning for the long-term in the right way. Instead of proper urban planning they default to development led planning – allowing individual development choices to shape or growth.

David Walker is a professional Civil Engineering Surveyor by trade. He has worked in all sectors of the property and construction industry for over 30 years. He is also an IT / network manager. As a Land Surveyor David has been mapping and modelling the natural and built environment, on land and water, including agricultural, industrial and commercial property, including the infrastructure that joins them