Shropshire needs ‘extra 2,000 homes a year’ under 2029 local plan

An up-to-date development framework for Shropshire could still be three years away, according to new documents set to be discussed by councillors next week.

The authority, led by a previous administration, tore up its draft local plan last year after government planning inspectors said it was “unsound” – leading to a wave of applications for speculative housing schemes being submitted by developers over the past twelve months.

Latest calculations show the county now needs to build at least 2,030 houses every year to meet its local housing needs – almost double the figure of 1,070 set out in the previous draft plan.

Having gone back to square one with its proposals, a fresh timetable for creating an up to date plan for the county will go before the council’s cabinet next week (6 May), with the authority expecting to submit its draft proposals to the government for examination in August, 2028.

The changes could also trigger a raid on housing developers coffers, with hikes in the county’s Community Infrastructure Levies also being scoped out. Shropshire’s CIL charges have not seen any changes for almost fifteen years.

If successfully adopted the following year, the policy would set a development strategy for the county for the following 15 years, setting out where large housing and employment schemes would be built up to 2046.

The move comes following a government squeeze on local authorities to provide up-to-date local development plans, outlined in changes to national policy which are expected to be adopted this summer.

Currently, less than a third of planning authorities in the UK have an adopted and up-to-date local plan, which the government says is hurting its chances of hitting a self-imposed target of building 1.5m new homes before the end of the current parliament in 2029.

If the timetable is approved next week, Shropshire will begin a scoping exercise for its new local plan this month.