Hundreds turn out to support new Shifnal action group

The group, Shifnal Matters, has been formed to fight the recent plans by Shropshire Council to remove land from the green belt and develop large residential and employment areas.

After forming through its Facebook page, Shifnal Matters, the group held a meeting on December 14 with Shropshire Council and Shifnal Town Council to present the town’s local plan, and held its first meeting as a group on Friday to discuss an action plan going forward.

Plans currently put forward by the council include a bypass to be built west of the town, a huge employment site of up to 40 hectares of land and a further 1,500 homes built.

Lee Hubbard, one of the founders of Shifnal Matters, said: "Considering we were expecting about 100 people to attend, the fact we had 400 was absolutely superb and it shows that Shifnal does matter in the eyes of its residents.

"The objective of the meeting was to give the people of Shifnal a voice. Over the last six or seven years the town has been continually developed on and people have felt like their voice has been lost.

"Now we're forming a strong group supported by hundreds of people to collaborate with both Shifnal Town Council and Shropshire Council to come to a conclusion over the continued unsustainable development that his been disproportionately thrown into Shifnal.

"The proposed bypass using old roads and existing infrastructure was one of the issues heavily talked about, along with how important our green belt land is.

"We've had an overwhelmingly positive response following the meeting from both young and old members of the community which is exactly what we're after, and now we're just going through further responses we've had sent to us and preparing the group legally and structurally to take matters forward when we need to."

The group will hold further meetings in March, June and October, with dates to be confirmed.

Response

The next meeting will discuss the infrastructure in the town, including transport and public safety. The June meeting will focus on the town's services, education and healthcare and the October meeting will be focused around getting ready for Shropshire Council's response to the planning proposals.

Members of the town council have previously raised concerns over the proposals, warning that further infrastructure is needed before the town expands.

Councillors Kevin Turley and Ed Bird, who represent Shifnal on Shropshire Council, have both said the residents could even look for the town to switch to Telford & Wrekin Council from the Shropshire authority over the issue.

Councillor Turley said: “You cannot say ‘no’ to development full stop, but Shifnal needs the chance to be allowed a bit of breathing space and time to catch up with the development that has taken place.

“Shifnal always seems to be the poor relation when it comes to anything coming in our direction. That section of green belt between Shifnal and Telford has been a precious and protected thing for the people of the town.

“It is interesting listening to people on social media saying that if we are going to develop in Telford’s direction then we could get more out of Telford because we seem to be getting forgotten by Shropshire.

“I listen to the people of Shifnal and they feel like they are not getting their fair share.”

For more information, visit the group's Facebook page, Shifnal Matters.