Shropshire Council’s application for £70,000 of funding to undertake a Green Belt review has been approved in principle by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.
It’s part of the £14 million funding package the Government had made available to councils to implement their planning reforms – and will enable Shropshire Council to ensure that it complies with the changes to the status of the Green Belt announced last December.
The list of councils awarded funding can be seen here.
The Green Belt is a planning designation which is intended to prevent urban sprawl around major urban centres by keeping land permanently open.
Parts of eastern Shropshire were incorporated into the West Midlands Green Belt around Birmingham and the Black Country when it was designated in 1975. Recent changes to national policy on Green Belt now mean it is necessary for the council to update its evidence to inform future plan making, which the council has committed to starting work on later this year.
Chris Schofield, Shropshire Council’s Cabinet member for planning and regulatory services, said:
“We greatly welcome this funding announcement. It will be important to ensure our next Local Plan is supported by robust evidence, especially in the light of the uplift in housing numbers we are now expected to accommodate. It will also help us to ensure that we have the most up-to-date information about our Green Belt, in order to ensure that any growth happens in a planned way and to safeguard it from applications for unsustainable development.”
