Plan to build first of up to 1,000 homes on former Ironbridge Power Station site takes step forward

Councillors gave their unanimous support for the design appearance, landscaping, layout and scale of the first 107 dwellings that will eventually be built in the highly sensitive landscape area.

Shropshire Council's southern planning committee was told that the first phase of the development - called Benthall Grange - is the gateway to the entire site. Proposals have been batted backwards and forwards between the developers for months.

But on Tuesday the elected members of the committee decided that they now have a scheme that they can support and voted it through after barely half an hour.

Other reserved matters such as dealing with flooding and the layout of roads will have to be cleared before the redevelopment can go ahead.