CPRE urges residents to respond to consultation on housing proposals

The Shropshire branch of the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) is urging residents of the county to find just 15 minutes at this busy time of year, to respond to Shropshire Council’s consultation on its housing proposals. The consultation period closes on December 22nd 2017.

The consultation was launched on October 27 following the publication of the Council’s update to its Local Plan which detailed its Preferred Options for the scale and distribution of development over the coming 20 years. That stated a requirement for an additional 28,750 homes across the county which CPRE is strongly contesting.

Speaking in the run-up to the conclusion of the consultation period, Charles Green, spokesperson for CPRE Shropshire, commented:

“It is of vital importance for the future protection of Shropshire that people act now! The run up to Christmas is incredibly busy for everyone but just 15 minutes to respond to the Council’s survey could make a significant difference. To mitigate the time it takes to complete the questions, we’ve posted details on our website to help guide respondents through quickly and effectively.

“For many years we’ve heard that a ‘dog is for life, not just for Christmas’ and in much the same way, if the council is allowed to plough ahead with this overblown level of development, it will affect us all forever, not just in the short-term.

“It’s easy, when you’re already busy, to think that someone else will take action, or that you can’t really make a difference anyway. However, the people of Shropshire have the absolute commitment of the CPRE that we will continue to hold the Council to account – we just need your input to back us up!”

Since Shropshire Council published the update to its Local Plan and subsequently announced its Preferred Options in October of this year, the local CPRE team has been active in its campaigning to raise awareness of the fallacies at play in the Council’s plans. Member communications and media interviews have been supplemented by questions being tabled to the Council Cabinet and outreach to local parish councils. Mr Green continues:

“To say we were astonished and disappointed by the Council’s proposals would be a gross understatement, but it has certainly given us renewed determination to stand up against those plans and draw attention to the fact that they’re based on questionable information.

“Take, for example, the fact that the Council has chosen to disregard previous consultation preferences which clearly showed support for lower levels of development; or that their housing need option is at odds with even Central Government’s figures. Then there’s the fact that Shropshire’s housing need has been justified by the Council on the basis of the vision outlined in its Economic Growth Strategy – a strategy which is, in our view, based on some very dubious and inconsistent research.

“To be clear, CPRE Shropshire isn’t against all housing development. We are simply mindful of the need to ensure that the right types of housing are built in the right areas. With less than two weeks until the consultation closes, now is the time for people to voice their views.”

Further details of Shropshire Council’s housing proposals, can be found at http://new.shropshire.gov.uk/get-involved/local-plan-review-preferred-scale-and-distribution-of-development/ and CPRE Shropshire has developed a suite of documents to guide local residents through responding to the consultation: https://www.cpreshropshire.org.uk/local-plan-review