Muller delight after Woore scheme approved on appeal
A development of 65 homes will be built in Shropshire, after planning inspectors overturned a decision by Shropshire Council to refuse the scheme.
Cheshire-based Muller Property Group originally put forward outline proposals for the village of Woore in August last year, announcing plans for a mostly open-market housing scheme on an 8-acre plot of farmland off Audlem Road, to the West of the village centre and outside Woore’s development boundary
A total of 51 homes were expected to be sold on the open market in indicative plans for the site, with nine allocated for affordable housing.
The firm saw its plans turned down in December, after Shropshire Council decided the scheme was an “unjustified departure from the adopted development plan” for the county – sparking an appeal to the Planning Inspectorate.
Following a two-day hearing last month, government inspectors agreed that the scheme conflicted with elements of the council’s creaking SAMDev spatial development strategy.
However they said they could only apply limited weight to those concerns due to a conflict with updated national planning policies, and the council’s housing requirement targets – adding that the benefits of new housing in the village outweighed any down sides of the proposals.
In a report accompanying the decision, planning inspectors said the “density, scale and broad form” of the development would be “comparable” with housing estates nearby, adding that the scheme would consolidate existing development on the southern side of Audlem Road.
Planning inspectors also took issue with the council’s concerns over the additional pressure which could be placed on primary school facilities in the village, cited in Shropshire Council’s decision to reject the scheme in December.
“The site is opposite existing housing estates and is close to the village centre. It is therefore influenced by, and has a close visual and spatial relationship with, the existing settlement,” wrote inspector H Faulkner.
“I find that the development would generate additional demand and could result in some localised pressure at Woore Primary School. However… I am not persuaded that the development would cause an unacceptable shortage of primary-school places or that permanent additional accommodation would necessarily be required as a consequence of it,” they added.
The appeal was allowed and planning permission was granted for the scheme, with a decision notice issued on 5 November. A separate application for the awarding of costs was refused.
Plans relating to the application can be viewed on Shropshire Council’s planning portal using reference: 25/03245/OUT
