Costa Coffee closed its King Street shop in May 2023. Now it is coming back to Ludlow, this time on the outskirts of the town. The planning application for the new site at Rocks Green will be submitted towards the end of February. We are releasing this news ahead of time because the proposal has been leaked. The new Costa Coffee will be on the vacant plot next to Sainsbury’s. This was once destined to be petrol filling station but fuel retailers weren’t interested in the location, the town already having two petrol stations, with others not far away at Woofferton and Craven Arms. The site is being promoted by Blackfriars Property, which is working with WSP on the designs. Blackfriars says the site is unsuitable for a takeaway such as KFC. The unit will be too small. The plot is also next to a residential area and drive through […]
Category: Planning
Planning committee to decide M&S Food application next week
The application for an M&S Food store in opposite the Eco Park will be debated by the Southern Planning Committee on Tuesday 16 January. Planning officers have recommended that the committee approves the application. Twenty people and organisations have supported the application. Ten have opposed it, including Davies Street, the owner of the Sainsbury’s site. Ludford Parish Council has commented on the application requesting more information but it has not objected. It opposes the allocation of the site for development but the decision on that was made a decade ago. The store is expected to employ around 70 people in full and part-time jobs.
McConnel applies to expand and refurbish its Ludlow workshops
McConnel in Ludlow has applied for planning permission to expand its premises on Weeping Cross Lane (23/05270/FUL). It wants to expand the workshop space, install new staff facilities and improve the entrance to the site. There are many light engineering businesses in Ludlow and they form part of the backbone of the town’s economy. McConnel is one of our largest engineering employers. It proudly declares itself the “Home of the Hedgecutter”. This is a welcome application. It shows that McConnel is committed to Ludlow. In the long term. That is good news for jobs, all the people that work for the company and the economy of our rural town.
Plans for 213 homes off Bromfield Road approved after nearly ten years
Shropshire planning officers have approved the application for 213 houses wedged between the A49, Bromfield Road and the railway line. This comes after the Environment Agency and Shropshire Highways withdrew their objections to a footpath from Bromfield Road under the railway bridge over the Corve. This will be the only pedestrian access to the site. A further six homes are to be added to the site in plans to be submitted next year. The housing will be accessed by vehicle from a new roundabout on the A49. This obviously must be installed before construction on the site itself begins. Construction of the roundabout is bound to lead to long delays and occasional closure of the A49, increasing traffic through Ludlow and on Squirrel Lane, though official diversions will be via Bridgnorth.
Marks and Spencer: New plans for a Ludlow food store are a design failure
M&S Food has submitted its second application for a store outside the A49 bypass (23/04457/FUL). Putting aside whether another out of town store will be good for the town centre, this design is worse than the last. It is quite out of keeping with the landscape and looks like an oversized intensive poultry rearing unit. That’s an image that is quite alien to the M&S brand. The first design for this store was no more a white urban box. It was withdrawn when it was clear that it would not get approval by Shropshire Council. The next stage of design was a lot better. It mystifies me that has been discarded for a gross design. A carbuncle rather than a welcoming store.