Lib Dems call for dedicated cabinet appointment to 'get a grip' of local plan after damning verdict from inspectors

Shropshire Council's Local Plan (2016 to 2038) was submitted back in 2021 but faced significant delays after Government inspectors raised concerns over their proposals.

The policy sets out locations across the authority's area where housing and commercial developments are recommended to take place.

Shropshire's proposal is made up of a combined 31,300 homes to be built over that timeframe, along with 320 hectares of employment land.

The latest letter from the inspectors states that council has until the end of January to set out how it can tackle their concerns within six months - or they will ask the authority to withdraw the proposal.

The delays also mean that the Local Plan must be extended by three years to 2041, finding sites for three years of extra development.

Heather Kidd, co-leader of the Lib Dem group on Shropshire Council and Shropshire Councillor for Chirbury and Worthen, called the update "a major blow" to the authority. 

She has now called on the council to inject more resources into "get a grip on the problem".

She said: "All its long-term plans for economic and housing development across Shropshire will be in disarray until the new local plan is in place. 

“The local plan has long been in the periphery of Shropshire Council’s vision. The planning policy team has not had the resources other planning teams have had. The result is the local plan has faced lengthy delays as it has struggled to get approval from the planning inspectorate. 

“There are now only one-third of planning officers working on the local plan than there were when the council’s original plan was developed more than ten years ago. 

“The council leadership needs to get a grip on the problem. It needs to appoint a deputy portfolio holder to Cabinet whose sole responsibility will be getting the local plan delivered. It must also ensure there are enough planners working on the local plan.”

The inspectors are also seeking the council accommodate additional site allocations for unmet Black Country needs.

Fellow Lib Dem, Ludlow Councillor Andy Boddington, said “The council’s agreement to provide 1,500 homes and 30 hectares of employment land for councils in the Black Country is one of the biggest problems picked up the inspectors. 

"The four Black Country councils have struggled to deliver enough housing, mostly because of the difficulty in getting brownfield sites developed. I am surprised there are not enough brownfield sites in Sandwell, Dudley, Walsall and Wolverhampton to meet their targets. The councils need to work harder on housing delivery and not expect Shropshire to solve their housing problems. 

“In February 2023, the planning inspectors told Shropshire Council the extra housing and employment land for the Black Country must be added to its planned allocation of 31,300 homes. Instead, Shropshire Council decided to fit the Black County allocation within sites reserved to meet its housing target. The inspectors have now said that this fudge is not acceptable. They want Shropshire to increase its housing target and find enough sites to meet the needs of the Black Country.

“There is worse to come. The government’s new housing targets are not yet in force for Shropshire but those would increase our housing target by a quarter.  

“I don’t see how this many houses can be built. There are not enough skilled tradespeople to do the work. Developers are not asking for this many houses because they know they won’t be able to sell them quickly. But they do want to pick and choose the sites they develop and not build them where most needed.

“The local plan is at the tipping point of failure. Shropshire Council needs to take urgent action to rescue it.”

Council bosses say they already responded to previous concerns of the inspectors and provided additional material to the examination in 2024, adding that the authority has already proposed to increase the housing and employment requirements of the county to reflect previous comments made by the inspectors, and to maintain its contribution to unmet needs of the Black Country in addition to its own needs. 

Councillor Chris Schofield, the council’s cabinet member for planning, said: “Unfortunately, it seems that on a number of issues the inspectors have sided with the arguments put by promoters of sites not included in the draft plan.

“This is very disappointing, while inspectors are also now seeking the council to accommodate additional site allocations for Black Country needs, and to increase the plan period by three years, which would require the council to identify sites for around an additional 4,000 dwellings.

“We are in a similar situation to many other councils and will be considering the inspectors’ views very carefully in the coming weeks and assessing a range of options as to how best to proceed, while taking account also of the implications of recent government announcements on planning reforms. A report on this will come to cabinet in February.

“However, above all we must consider what is best for Shropshire’s communities and how best to maintain a positive framework for making decisions at a time of significant upheaval in the national planning system.”