Today, Shropshire Council published plans from Shropshire Homes to build housing on the green paddock on Castle View Terrace, off New Road.
This is going to be the most controversial housing application in Ludlow since Richborough Estates announced that they wanted to build more than one hundred homes the green fields on Foldgate Lane. The scheme for Castle View Terrace proposed by Shropshire Homes for Castle View Terrace is small in comparison, seven homes. But it will destroy a rare area of greenfield in this area of Ludlow. It will also damage the character of the terrace and generate extra traffic on the cul de sac.
Planning permission has been given for several hundred homes in Ludlow. We have no urgent need to give more permissions. I will oppose this application.
The application has been in the offing for a while (20/02971/FUL). This is the second of what I expect to be several articles about this development.
Shropshire Homes is building a major presence in Ludlow. It has approval for 79 dwellings at the Fishmore Road Quarry. The developer also has approval for 68 dwellings between the Eco Park and Sheet Village. That does not mean that this new application should be approved.
Unlike the Quarry and the Sheet Road sites, Castle View Terrace is not allocated for development, either in the existing local plan or the local plan currently out to consultation.
The developers are relying on national planning rules in the National Planning Policy Framework. No doubt we hear more details about which policies Shropshire Homes thinks offer support for this development in due course. The usual argument that developers use try to get around a site not being allocated in local plans such as SAMDev is to claim that the council does not have enough land for housing – a five-year land supply. Shropshire Council has well over six years land supply. We don’t need more housing approvals in Ludlow now or for years ahead. We need to get on with building first.
With around 750 homes waiting to be built in Ludlow and Ludford, we are in danger of undermining the viability of developments by approving more housing than can be built and sold.
Castle View Terrace is a distinctive terrace of townhouses. Most have been treated with respect and improved by householders. The terrace has exceptional views towards the Mortimer Forest and Ludlow Castle. The paddock Shropshire Homes wants to develop is a 0.4 hectare green space that brings a piece of the countryside right into the heart of urban Ludlow. It links the terrace into with the wider landscape.
I am disappointed with the design of these houses. They are very ordinary and the design looks thirty years old.
The terraced houses are the ‘Shifnal’ model. The bungalow will be the ‘Whittington’ model. This is what they will look like.
The layout and design are described in my previous article.
Residents have made representations to Shropshire Homes about buying the land.
You can make comments about the application on Shropshire Council’s planning portal (20/02971/FUL). Comments are invited by Monday 7 September. It is the practice of Shropshire Council to accept comments up until shortly before a decision on the application is made.