Hearing date set for 800-home Shropshire housing scheme
Boningale Homes will take Shropshire Council’s decision to refuse an 800-home extension to Albrighton to appeal next month, with an opening public hearing due to begin on 15 September.
The developer saw its controversial Patsull Road proposals, which include a care home and a secondary school, turned down by the council’s planning committee in December last year.
Development plans for the 120-acre plot, which lies in the West Midlands Metropolitan Green Belt and is not an allocated site, received more than 1,000 objections after plans were made public in 2024, with residents forming a campaign group to fight off the proposals.
Boningale says it will not comment publicly until the outcome of net month’s appeal hearing is known, but has previously told Place Midlands that its proposals would help address Shropshire’s housing supply – recently estimated at 3.1 years – and deliver vital services for the community.
A sign protesting the Albrighton South housing development at the Red House on Thursday, 24 April, 2026. Credit: Place Midlands/Mike Sheridan
In their statement of case, the developer says Shropshire’s out of date Core Strategy and SAMDev development plan documents, introduced in 2011 and 2015, can no longer be relied upon to set the boundaries of development due to their age.
And while the council started work on creating an up to date local plan this year, it will not be published for at least 18 months, meaning the prospect of plan-led housing delivery in the short term is “almost nil,” they said.
“The geographic development limits were fixed to accommodate an outdated assessment of development needs,” the appeal statement says.
“The appellant will adduce evidence to demonstrate that the extent of housing shortfall and housing land supply, including the deficit in the delivery of affordable housing situation, is a crucially important material consideration in the conclusion of this case.”
At the time of the original decision, the village’s location on the eastern fringe of the county also placed it in the crosshairs for Shropshire’s “duty to co-operate” with its neighbouring authorities, with the county having previously accepted a need to provide around 1,500 homes for Black Country residents up to 2038.
However, duty to cooperate was abolished by central government earlier this year in favour of voluntary arrangements negotiated by individual councils, in a bid to speed up local plan delivery.
Albrighton Development Action Group, which is a so-called Rule 6 party to next month’s proceedings, will host a public meeting next week as part of a push to raise a further £10,000 to cover the costs of legal and planning experts representing the group in the hearing. A total of £50,000 has already been raised to fight their corner.
“We believe this is the largest green-grey belt battle currently being fought in the UK and will set the precedent for future developments. If we don’t prevail then hundreds of communities will lose their open spaces for good…it really is that important,” said ADAG spokesperson, Sharon Baker.
The hearing will begin with the inspector’s opening comments on Tuesday, 15 September at Guildhall in Shrewsbury.
Plans and documents relating to the application can be found on Shropshire Council’s planning portal under reference: 24/02108/OUT
