MP: Get ready for a fight over Shifnal and Tong homes
Wrekin MP Mark Pritchard has warned Shropshire Council it faces a "massive fight" over plans to build hundreds of new homes in Shifnal and as many as 10,000 nearby at Tong.
Mr Pritchard has said the scale of housing being proposed for Shifnal in the council's local plan is "completely unacceptable".
The Tory MP has also pledged to fight plans that could see as many as 10,000 homes built in a new garden village at Tong.
Mr Pritchard said: "Shropshire Council are wrong if they think their local plan will go through without a massive fight.
"I will fight these unsustainable housing numbers all the way.
"Some housing is acceptable but not on the scale proposed or by trying to force through the re-designation of greenbelt land."
A Shropshire Council spokesman said today: "We’re aware of Mark Pritchard’s concerns and will be addressing these directly with him.”
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.
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The plans also include a bypass from the Wolverhampton Road to the Priorslee Road, and up to 40 hectares of employment land.
A consultation on plans for Tong, which is not part of the local plan process, is expected to take place later this year.
The consultation, on what the council considers "strategic sites", is expected to include the Tong suggestion, which has been put forward as a site for up to 10,000 homes, with development continuing into the 2060s.
Other strategic sites likely to be included in the consultation are Ironbridge Power Station and Tern Hill Barracks.
The campaign group Shifnal Matters has already been vocal in its criticism of the local plan proposals.
The scale of the development would outstrip nearly all others for the county – ahead of Oswestry and Bridgnorth and only behind Shrewsbury, where there is an aspiration to create 91 hectares of employment land in the town.
Shrewsbury is listed by the council as a key part of opportunities for the county to benefit from the Midlands Engine – an economic plan to develop the region.
The consultation on the council plans has closed. The next stage will see a report to its cabinet.
More than 1,000 people in Shifnal responded to the consultation on the proposals with representatives from Shifnal Matters handing over 800 responses at Shirehall last month.
The group has also warned of plans to stage public protests over the proposals.
Speaking last week, Lee Hubbard, a committee member of the group, said: "If a little bit of bad press is what we need, then we're all for it.
"We want to make ourselves noticed and show Shropshire Council we're passionate about the town and our views and values within it.
"The group has been expanding and gaining support of residents really well and we're looking at getting the younger generations involved too, as it's their playground of land that is going to get built on."
