Plans resubmitted for new homes near site of Battle of Shrewsbury

In 2015, the trustees of Sundorne Estates applied to Shropshire Council for outline planning permission to build a new housing development on land west of Battlefield Road.

The development site lies close to where the Battle of Shrewsbury took place in 1403, although archaeologists are confident that there will be a negligible impact on the historical environs.

But the site has remained unsold and now estate has reapplied for planning permission for the homes.

When the original application was made, archaeologists carried out a site visit which confirmed the modern development that has already taken place in and around the registered Battlefield site, in particular the A5124 Link Road, the overhead power lines and the new incinerator plant.

In a report to Shropshire Council the applicants added: "The assessment concludes that, allowing for appropriate mitigation, the proposed development will have an overall negligible to no permanent adverse residual impact on the heritage resource of the application site and its environs."

Recovered

The land comprises of a mix of arable land and hedgerow.

The applicants said that the development of the land will 'provide security for the north of Shrewsbury in the short-term through the provision of immediate growth'.

Although finds have been recovered from within the 1km search area in the past, no finds have been recorded within the application site itself and it is unknown whether the site has been subjected to metal detecting in the past. But archaeologists say the potential for recovery of finds within the application site cannot be 'totally discounted'.

In their initial report, Casterling Archaeology said: "Development on the application site will have negligible to no permanent adverse residual impact on the archaeological resource."

The matter will now be considered by members of the council's planning department and committee.