22/03877/FUL — Shrewsbury Town Council

Address	Proposal	Shrewsbury Town Council Decision
Proposed Commercial Development Land To The South Of Hazledine Way Shrewsbury	Mixed use development including retail, gym, drive-thru coffee shop and drive-thru restaurant (use class E), tanning and beauty salon (sui generis), and residential care home (use class C2) together with access, parking, landscaping and associated infrastructure	Objection
Application Date:
2022-08-25
Application Notes:
The Town Council objected to this application on the grounds of overdevelopment, concerns about highways and the lack of green space proposed for the care home. The Travel Plan provided is incorrect and needed further investigation, e.g., it states that buses to the site will be available at night and gives inaccurate travel times to the station and town centre. Active travel to the site also needed to be considered further as the plans are currently very car centric. Members felt that that the development was ‘crammed on’ to a small site. There did not appear to be enough provision for pedestrians to cross nearby roads and Members respectfully requested that SC Highways investigate this further. It was felt that the proposed exit road on to Hazeldine Way was dangerous as the road had a speed limit of 50mph. The application was also objected to on operational grounds for Shrewsbury Town Council. The Municipal Golf Course is divided by Hazeldine Way. Small ride-on Golf Course specialist maintenance vehicles and equipment access the disused Pitch and Putt Course down a narrow track and cross Hazeldine Way via the field gate positioned in the boundary hedge. No provision for this access appeared on the plans to allow vehicles safe access onto the course from the Golf Course Depot Facilities positioned next to Ballantynes. The current plans isolate the access to the course from the Maintenance Depot which contained all the specialist course vehicles and machinery. The current proposals would direct all maintenance machinery around the busy Meole Island, the equipment is slow and not designed for daily road use. The land has a well-established natural mixed buffering screen, forming a natural hedge, this should be protected and retained. The boundary contains a mixture of well - established trees which should be protected with TPOs, and Members respectfully requested that the Tree Officer from Shropshire Council investigate this. The removal of any of the hedge for access roads should be limited to the minimum width required and large swathes of hedgerow removal should be avoided. It was reported that the site also had issues with travellers gaining unlawful access and it was suggested that deterrents are put in place to prevent unauthorised encampment. It was suggested, with many of the building designed with flat roofs, this provided a great opportunity to green these with permanent planting to reduce the carbon footprint of the development. The grounds of the Care Home also had the opportunity to create some wetland areas to encourage biodiversity in and around the conservation areas proposed, developing a sustainable drainage system.