16/03117/DEM — Shrewsbury Town Council

Address	Proposal	Shrewsbury Town Council Decision
Former Copthorne Barracks Copthorne Road Shrewsbury Shropshire SY3 8LZ	Application for prior notification under Schedule 2 Part 11 of the Town & Country Planning (General Permitted Development) Order 2015 for the demolition of 40No. buildings (including a range of military buildings (e.g. stores/offices/etc), Single Living Accommodation (SLA) buildings and sports and welfare buildings) and associated structures (excluding boundary walls and fences)	Objection
Application Date:

Application Notes:
The Town Council objects to this application on the following grounds: • Members are aware that the agent for the Ministry of Defence is to hold a public consultation event on 17th August; they feel that this application inappropriately pre-empts this consultation event and suggests there being a fait acomplis as to development; • Members are understanding of the fact that the site is one for future development but they are saddened that there has not been any consideration to preparing a development brief. Equally members are saddened that the Ministry of Defence does not hold any community responsibility for what happens to this site in the long-term; purely focussing on any development that provides the maximum return on investment rather than what is right and proper for the town; • Given the proximity of this development site to both one of the key gateways into the town as well as being in close proximity to the town centre Conservation Area there should be a development plan in place ahead of any whole demolition of the site. This site has huge historic significance to the town and whilst this garrison town is no longer home to serving army personnel it still retains an importance in terms of its commitment to army life past; • There are a number of iconic buildings within the site which were they elsewhere with a greater public access would have been ripe for listed building status. These buildings add to the character and ambience of the site as a former garrison community and would create greater opportunities to develop a more characterful community within this site. The redevelopment of the Shelton Mental Hospital site comes to mind; • The site has some beautiful and worthy recreational openspace and should development be on site there is a need to retain these areas to be of benefit to any potential residents and those in the wider Copthorne Community • Members see that this development site lends itself to mixed use where community life could in effect be sustainable; see it as a mini-sustainable urban extension; • The only saving grace to this application is that the applicant sees fit to retain the boundary wall and The Keep, both of which are iconic and add greatly to the existing Streetscene in the area Whilst acknowledging that this is merely a notification requirement as part of General Permitted Development Rights we believe that this application should be withdrawn and the applicant begin meaningful discussions with planners and key stakeholders locally to determine the best outcome for this site.