Shropshire Council has today published a letter received from the Inspectors examining the draft Local Plan, responding to the council’s recent response to their soundness concerns and their invitation for the council to establish a project plan of work to address these concerns.
Unfortunately, despite the council agreeing to seek to meet the majority of their concerns, which included identifying new site allocations in Shrewsbury and the east of the county, the inspectors have advised they believe the work needed to be undertaken is too significant and unlikely to be achieved within their defined six month timetable.
As such the inspectors have recommended that Shropshire Council withdraws the Plan from the examination. If the council does not agree to this, the inspectors have said they will prepare their final report concluding the Plan is unsound and should not be adopted.
Because of this, Shropshire Council considers it has little option but to agree to their recommendation to withdraw the plan so that it can focus on preparing a Plan for the period 2025-45 under the Government’s new system.
Chris Schofield, Shropshire Council’s Cabinet member for planning and regulatory services, said:
“We are extremely frustrated by the response of the inspectors. Having been invited by the inspectors to prepare a project plan, and having set out a positive proposal to address the majority of their soundness concerns, it is difficult to understand why they are now of the view this work is not achievable within these timeframes.
“The inspectors have now shut off any positive path forward for this plan to progress. Whilst we are aware Shropshire is not alone with similar issues being experienced in other councils across the country, this remains desperately disappointing news for the council and the residents of Shropshire.
“At all stages of this examination we have sought to positively work with the inspectors and respond to their guidance in a timely fashion. Indeed, the fact we were prepared to allocate additional land to mitigate their concerns demonstrates the council’s intent to move forward pragmatically in order to adopt a Plan.
“We will now turn our attention to preparing a Plan for the period 2025-45. This will need to respond to the Government’s recent significant uplift in housing need for the county, as well as providing a framework for sustainable economic growth and managing the county’s environmental assets. This process will begin later this year, and the council will work with communities in establishing positive and sustainable growth strategies for their areas.”
