In Case You Missed It (ICYMI), Shropshire Homes has submitted a planning application for 110 dwellings in Park Hall. The deadline for comments expired on the 24th of December. However, I anticipate that Shropshire Council will allow further comments after this date because of the Christmas break. In addition, the National Highways agency has objected and asked for a 3-month delay before determining the application for a full assessment to be made. To comment, follow the above link or search for this reference: 24/04332/FUL. To date, there are 49 public comments.
The above map shows the development red line boundary relative to the sites allocated in the Draft Local Plan
View the above map in a separate window:
https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/edit?mid=1nPUgQ2tpJvHKtZou3HYf4SCN7kqz5fE&usp=sharing
The yellow area on the map above is the land allocated for a mixed-use ‘garden village’ in the draft local plan. This application is described as phase 1. Below is policy S14.1 from the draft local plan submitted to the planning inspector, who has determined that the draft plan is unsound.
For me there are several concerns about the plans as submitted:
Sustainable Urban Drainage (SUDS)
The Drainage details or Sustainable Urban Drainage (SUDS) have been assessed by WSP on Shropshire Council’s behalf, with final details as a pre-commencement decision. However, given the localised flooding on North Drive and elsewhere in Park Hall, I believe the SUDS should be fully considered as part of the application. Development has been allowed for too long, which has harmed the overall run-off management in the River Severn Catchment area. To ‘slow the flow‘ and reduce the incidences of flooding, all development needs a robust scheme of SUDS to manage water run-off rather than discharge into overloaded local drainage with a fix-it-later mentality.
North Drive Footpath
The draft local plan specifies above that any development should address the footpath to the west of the site and ensure it is linked up. The proposed design adds a cycle path through the development but does not address the gaps in the footpath on North Drive. This will still be a desired line for many pedestrians, and it should be addressed by the design and not overlooked.
Lack of amenities & infrastructure
The trust of the ‘garden village’ is to have a mixed-use site with amenities that have been lacking in Park Hall for a long time. This application provides some play areas but nothing of substance like the local shopping the local plan is looking for. For too long, development has been allowed, but it doesn’t provide enough infrastructure to support the development and the wider community. This is a significant weakness of the draft local plan. Infrastructure should be in place as a condition and completed before development is allowed. Often, developers duck out of obligations on affordable housing at a later date. Shropshire Homes might say this is in Phase 2, but this is disingenuous. It should be accessible to the wide community, so it should be adjacent to North Drive. School places are at a premium and the roads are in a poor state. North Drive is pretty much how it was built as the North access to the Park Hall estate circa 1890s. Generally, Shropshire Council doesn’t know when roads were built, and their maintenance plan is shocking as a result. This spine road and Burma Road need a serious upgrade and a continuous public footpath from top to bottom. This application should contribute profoundly to achieving that and improving overall safety.
Traffic
Not enough planning and thought has been made to mitigate the increase in traffic. Problems will arise in Park Hall, Five Ways, and Whittington Road islands. Shropshire Council’s development-led planning, rather than true Town Planning, has consistently failed to leverage development to address existing problems and create new ones instead. Traffic issues on Station Road in Whittington aren’t being relieved by any of the recent planning permissions. Shropshire Council need a much stronger long-term vision for development. So, I believe Neighborhood Plans will allow residents to take control of local planning and ensure their needs are met from the bottom up.
