samdog

I note with some relief that the Parish Council have at last accepted Shropshire Council's advice that the development trend in the parish is 6 houses per year, that is about 80 houses over the next 13 years. Since they have reiterated their decision that we should be a 'community cluster', all they have to do now is severely limit the promoted sites for development. In the minutes of their meeting in November they explained that their decision to designate the parish as a community cluster was to allow housing for the younger members of the parish to be provided and that if we were designated as 'countryside' no development would be allowed outside the current development boundaries. This is not the case as 'affordable housing' can be provided outside development boundaries even if we are 'countryside'. Therefore, why did they decide, without any proper consultation of residents, to designate us as a 'community cluster' ? May I also point out that my submission to the PC on the 11th Feb was a survey and not a petition as reported in their minutes. Finally, I appreciated Angela Bright's article in this month's Wren entitled 'Chirk Bank Community Group' and applaud her stance.

Update on the above: Shropshire Council have urged the Parish Council to reconsider their decision to designate the whole of the parish as a 'Community Cluster' and to include land for development amounting to over 27 acres. This area could support well over 1000 new houses, in spite of the fact that Shropshire Council have told the PC that they will only need 50 to 100 new houses over the next 13 years. The PC have also chosen to ignore surveys carried out in Chirk Bank and Rhoswiel where the overwhelming majority of residents said they did not want any new building outside the current development boundaries. The PC decided at their meeting last Monday to continue with their previous view, thus ignoring the advice of Shropshire Council.

I attended the public open session of last night's parish council meeting to present the results of a survey I have carried out in Rhoswiel on the subject of future development in the area. They were to debate the issue later in the meeting. Please look out for the minutes of the meeting.