Shropshire Local Plan
The site for Tasley Garden Village was originally promoted through the emerging Shropshire Local Plan in early 2020. Following a consultative process, the site was subsequently identified as a draft allocation in the publication draft of the emerging new Shropshire Local Plan in August 2020. Following consultation carried out by Shropshire Council, the new Local Plan was submitted to the Government for examination in September 2021 and this process is ongoing albeit with recent delays in the process.
Local Plans are the key documents through which local planning authorities set out a vision and framework for the future development of the area, engaging with their communities in doing so. Local Plans address needs and opportunities in relation to housing, the local economy, community facilities and infrastructure. The Local Plan provides a degree of certainty for communities, businesses and investors, and a framework for guiding decisions on individual planning applications.
Local planning authorities, such as Shropshire Council, have a statutory responsibility to maintain an up-to-date Local Plan, and national policy indicates that Local Plans should be regularly reviewed, with the expectation this is done at least every five years.
The current adopted development plan for Shropshire Council comprises the Shropshire Core Strategy (adopted 2011) and the Site Allocations and Management of Development (SAMDev – adopted 2015). With the Shropshire Development Plan is now significantly out of date. Shropshire Council is at an advanced stage of adopting a new Local Plan for the period 2016 – 2038.
Notwithstanding delays with the Local Plan examination, it is important to progress an outline planning application for this draft allocation for the following reasons:
- To ensure delivery of new homes, employment floorspace and infrastructure as early as possible in the plan period (2016-2038) to meet pent up demand. This demand has been exacerbated by delays with the delivery of the nearby Tasley Gateway development which was allocated in the previous development plan.
- Changes to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) being proposed by the Government would see Shropshire’s minimum housing need increase significantly from around 1,070 homes per year to 2,059.
- Should the current draft Local Plan not be adopted in a timely manner, Shropshire would need to find additional land to accommodate this significant increase in its housing targets. This would inevitably see speculative applications on sites not currently identified for development, which would result in unplanning housing and employment development growth across the county. Such speculative proposals are unlikely to deliver on the original objectives of the Local Plan, including the provision of supporting infrastructure.
- The preparation and submission of applications on draft allocations such as Tasley Garden Village will help the Council to demonstrate the required ‘5 year housing land supply’, resist speculative applications in unsuitable locations including the greenbelt, and deliver on the aims and aspirations of the draft Local Plan.
Holistic approach to delivery of Tasley Garden Village
The draft Local Plan allocation originally identified an initial site alongside additional land for potential future growth. Having reviewed the site in more detail, minor amendments have been proposed to the site area and it is now proposed to bring the garden village forward as one complete site.
The original Taylor Wimpey masterplan, prepared in 2020, envisaged residential development being delivered by a single developer starting from the eastern edge, moving westwards into the site. This directly informed the draft allocation boundary in the Local Plan and reflected the land control position at the time. Subsequently, Bloor Homes became involved with a new land control position. This meant that the site can now begin delivering residential development in two separate phases through new access points from both the A458 and Ludlow Road. This enables a holistic approach to delivery, enabling infrastructure and services to be delivered much earlier than would previously have been the case, whilst strengthening the Council’s housing land supply position in the early years of the Local Plan.
Our approach to submitting an outline planning application for the entire site will ensure the delivery of a holistic development, with the planning and delivery of infrastructure requirements for the entire development and wider community at an early stage. This includes highways improvements to accommodate the Garden Village, and ensuring that services within the new community, such as the school and other facilities, are of an appropriate scale and location from the outset.
An example of a Bloor Homes development