Residents facing a new garden village can now have a say in their neighbourhood
A parish council set to see more than 1,000 houses built in its area in the coming years has taken the first step to getting more say in future developments.
Tasley Garden Village is being considered as part of Shropshire Council’s new draft local plan. Now the authority has agreed to designate the parish a ‘neighbourhood plan area’.
It means that, with input from local residents, the parish, which sits between Broseley and Bridgnorth, can now set out its own policies that developers will have to take into account when putting forward new planning applications.
However those policies will have to take into account the garden village.
The neighbourhood plan area was approved by Shropshire Council’s cabinet at a meeting on Wednesday.
Councillor Ed Potter, deputy leader and cabinet member for planning, said: “We know from the National Planning Policy Framework that neighbourhood plans hold weight, so this is a good move, moving forward, for communities to have a say in development within their area.”
Leader of the labour group, Councillor Julia Buckley, said: “It is particularly important for this parish to be supported in this action because Tasley is a very small village that’s about to receive 1,600 houses through both the previous local plan and the incoming local plan."
Now the neighbourhood area has been designated, the parish council can formally begin the process of drawing up the plan, which, once complete, will be subject to public consultation, examination and a local referendum.
It cannot however conflict with Shropshire Council’s own local plan, which is currently being examined by government-appointed planning inspectors and is expected to be adopted later this year or in early 2023.
The meeting was told that the final neighbourhood plan will therefore need to recognise the Tasley Garden Village proposals.
