The controversial planning application for a supermarket and petrol filling station at Rocks Green on the edge of Ludlow will be back before the South Planning Committee next Tuesday, at 2pm in Shirehall. This is a reconsideration by the planning committee after initial attempts to reject the application were blocked by officers. The scheme has subsequently been revised and planning officers are again recommending that the scheme is approved by councillors.
Last October, the South Planning Committee decided that it wanted to reject the planning application for a new supermarket off Dun Cow Road at Rocks Green (14/05573/OUT).. Council officials blocked the refusal and the committee were only allowed to agree to be “minded to refuse”. Officers had wanted the scheme approved arguing the impacts of the proposed Rocks Green supermarket on Ludlow town centre “were more than minor in terms of significance but not significant enough to be significantly adverse.”
Since then, Blackfriars has submitted a revised scheme, increasing the footprint of the building and turning it through 90 degrees. They have reduced the size of the retail area by 14% (not 17% as previously claimed).
After I queried data submitted by the developer, a revised analysis of the impact of the scheme on the town centre was submitted last Friday. This corrects previous errors but also presents a different perspective on the financial data (Table BB). I won’t have opportunity to comment on this in detail before the planning committee meets on Tuesday.
Andy-is there not a petition or someone we can write to to put in our pennysworth as people who live here?
Come on,, Budgens have closed, give me a break on common sense of bringing another one to town when more than have failed several times…
Hi, you can object here:http://www.thepetitionsite.com/523/448/918/stop-ludlow-rocks-green-supermarket-development-from-destroying-ludlow/
Please share and ask others to consider signing too. Raj
Or support!
Put your cards on the table Mr Boddington do you want it or not ? Assuming not, then consider if the development brought with it cheap clothes for our poorer towns folk as well as low paid jobs…
This is a speculative application . Blackfriars will sell to the highest bidder and run. It could be Waitrose: no cheaper clothes; could be Tesco and they could close the store in the Town Centre. Could be anybody. What would happen? It would make Ludlow less attractive and chances are that it would lead to fewer people visiting resulting in the closure of stops and job losses in the shops and tourist industry in town. There is no free cigar. We are a small town. We do not have the resources – and history tells us this ; just look at the thousands of town centres up and down the country to support both. A developer does not care about you or your desires. They just want to make money and then they will run away leaving us poorer. What’s to stop any retailer from selling cheap clothes from the Budgens site? That would keep everybody happy….
Of course Blackfriars will sell to the highest bidder they are in business to make money and no other reason and there may not be a free cigar as you put it. This is however an opportunity to address the needs of the town in terms of clothing or indeed household goods. I am unsure of what if any powers the council has to restrict the type of goods purveyed as It does not necessarily have to be a foodstore does it ?
Actually, it does under the planning proposal : ‘Erection of a new foodstore with petrol station’ (Class A1). Take a look….
https://pa.shropshire.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=summary&keyVal=NGHH3CTDH6C00
Here’s a thought your voters in your supermarket ballot for replacing Budgens gave the most votes to Waitrose how would people feel if they came to Rocks Green. ?
Objections to this application outnumber supports by a factor of 10. “280 odd against 20 odd. I and a number of other people have drawn attention to this fact on the planning site and asked that the committee take this into account when making their decision. Hopefully someone will draw their attention to these numbers at the meeting and they will act accordingly.