Our districts
The Shropshire branch of the Campaign to Protect Rural England is represented locally by several district groups. Although we do not have active committees or groups in every part of Shropshire, CPRE Shropshire will respond to planning applications of concern anywhere in the county.
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The active districts are as follows (click on them for more information and contact details).
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Oswestry / South Shropshire / Telford & Wrekin / Shrewsbury / Bridgnorth
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Oswestry
The Oswestry District of CPRE Shropshire covers the old Oswestry Borough Council area. Although this is the smallest of the five pre-unitary Districts by geographical area, it contains Oswestry which is the second largest town, by some margin, in the Shropshire Council area.
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The District has a very small number of active campaigners and more would always be welcome. There is a committee which meets intermittently to arrange talks and garden evenings.
We held our latest AGM and Garden Evening on Sunday 1st September 2019
Notable campaigns have included:
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Obtaining compensation via the Local Government Ombudsman for development that the Local Authority had improperly allowed
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Winning one of CPRE’s national Marsh Awards for our role in the Oswestry Superstores war. Ironically, the winner of that “war” was the Smithfield site which now hosts Morrisons, though there is as yet little to show of benefit to the town from the millions that Oswestry Town Council received from the transaction.
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Failing to prevent the demolition by Aldi of the Telford tollhouse on Salop Road, despite taking the Council to the Local Government Ombudsman.
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Being at the heart of the Anglo/Welsh team opposing the combined windfarm and pylon plans for mid Wales and north Shropshire. On-shore wind power en masse has the unfortunate consequence that in order to try to save the planet one has to destroy the landscape. See the windfarms page for the latest on this one.
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We also support other local groups including the Oswestry Old Hillfort campaign and Trefonen Rural Protection Group.
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Contact: Charles Green (Chair) - charleswgreen@msn.com
South Shropshire
The South Shropshire is being revived in 2024 and a member visit is being arranged for October 2024.
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South Shropshire includes the Shropshire Hills National Landscape and county towns such as Ludlow and Bishops Castle. The district is very rural.
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Contact: Sarah Jameson: admin@cpreshropshire.org.uk
Telford & Wrekin
The Telford & Wrekin District of CPRE Shropshire covers 29 parishes and is home to some 169,400 people living in 73,400 homes in the Borough. Telford & Wrekin is part of the ceremonial county of Shropshire but does not share the same principal authority.
Telford is still a very new town estimated to be 52 years old and was initially developed by the Telford Development Corporation as a “forest town” hence you will find thousands of trees spread across every area in the Borough. Although seen as a considerably urban town the remaining rural area of the Wrekin parliamentary constituency makes the whole borough of Telford & Wrekin some 72% rural, and in a time where there are plans for 20,200 homes to be built in the Borough between 2020 and 2040, it is important CPRE play a role in the protection of green spaces in this area.
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Telford & Wrekin's consultation on their new Draft Local Plan straddled the last Christmas and New Year period and we responded to it in detail. Their projections for the plan period of 2020 to 2040 show an increase in population of 11,200. For that they want to build 20,200 houses! The conclusion is that most of these houses are being provided for the unmet need of the West Midlands conurbation (although that is not overtly stated) and that there is double counting of that need because of the varying base dates used for housing need calculations around the region
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We monitor weekly planning lists, but our main planning consideration is that we will not support major developments that are not consistent with the Local Plan. We are also embarking on two key pieces of research;
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Taking proper care of our hedgerows
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Enforcing a sustainable, growing and maintained Green Network
More details of this research will be made public in due course.
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We are always looking for new members to help in the following ways:
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Planning
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Marketing
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Events Management
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Fundraising
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Litter Picking
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Surveying
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We are a diverse group of like-minded people and you do not need a necessary level of skills/knowledge to help out. We have warehouse workers and company directors with ages ranging from 25 to 72 and we welcome anyone.
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Get involved with our district, by contacting us at cpre@gregsinclair.co.uk
Shrewsbury
The Shrewsbury Branch of CPRE Shropshire met quarterly before Covid-19 in the meeting room of Bear Steps (with kind permission of the Civic Society). At present, there are twelve members.
Planning applications continue to be the focus of the district, including:
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Poultry Farms: see elsewhere on this website
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Shropshire Council’s resolution to declare a climate emergency is welcomed by the Shrewsbury District committee although there is as yet no time commitment to achieve carbon neutrality. A Climate Change - SC Portfolio Holder and an Officer have been appointed.
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The committee continues to challenge the use of good quality agricultural land for housing.
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Contact in being maintained with Shropshire MPs as Kit Malthouse – Minister of Housing - in particular has stated “we need to ensure local people are in charge of where housing goes” and “local people need to be an integral part of the process of producing new homes” and “it sounds surprising to me that the West Midlands which is such a large area might be short of employment land” and “I will work closely with my Shropshire county colleagues to make that happen sensitively in their constituencies”. The Committee pledges to continue to fight for Shropshire residents to have a say in where new housing is developed.
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The District supports and meets with Shropshire Friends of the Earth. In particular, we discuss the merits of improving the existing A5 from Shrewsbury to Oswestry by making it a continuous dual carriageway rather than building the NWRR. We liaise with BeST who oppose the NWRR.
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The District objects to the “Preston Boats” new railway station proposed by Peter Nutting and will be keeping a watching brief.
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The District is also asking for all hoardings on major “A” roads to be removed, as they can constitute a danger to drivers who read them as they pass by.
We liaise with Shrewsbury Civic Society about developments within Shrewsbury and the latest position on permitted development proposals for town centres.
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Contact: Peter Day (Chair)
Bridgnorth
The Bridgnorth District is the longest standing District Group, keeping an active eye on planning applications and liaising with other local campaign groups, some of which are extraordinarily tenacious.
Contact: Stella & David Voysey via admin@cpreshropshire.org.uk