Will SSC take note of this ?
Bridgnorth Town Council’s Planning Committee met on Monday 7th June and discussed a planning application on the Old Smithfield adjacent to Sainsburys supermarket and recommended its refusal. The application seeks to develop a 66 bed care home. The Town Council’s view will now be considered by Shropshire Council’s planning department before it makes its own recommendation and decision.
Recorded Decision of Bridgnorth Town Council
“The Town Council objects to the proposal on the following grounds:
- The need for this specialist facility has not been demonstrated and as such it does not appear to meet the requirements of policy CS11. Further, if the facility relies on attracting residents from outside the Bridgnorth area for its commercial viability, this could place undue strain on local facilities and be unsustainable and not compliant with policy CS6.
- We note that part of the site is within Bridgnorth’s designated Town Centre, and that the part which is not would be regarded as “edge of centre” when considering proposals for town centre uses. The proposed use is not a Main Town Centre use, albeit that it may be considered “housing” in terms of NPPF paragraph 85a. We consider that developing this land for a non-town centre use may ultimately hinder the growth of Bridgnorth town centre and may be regarded as not an efficient use of land in terms of NPPF paragraph 123c. Given extant planning permissions for retail use of the site, evidence of the non-viability of development of the site for main town centre uses should be supplied.
- No Heritage Impact Assessment has been provided. We consider that introducing buildings of this detailing and height to the edge of the Smithfield Car Park, adjoining the cricket ground, would detract from the openness of the street scene and could be detrimental to the nearby Bridgnorth Conservation Area.
We further note the loss of car parking that the proposal entails. Whilst we accept that the land is privately owned and there appears to be no obligation on private owners to provide public car parking, we do consider that there is likely to be an excess of car parking demand over supply in Bridgnorth at peak periods and feel that Shropshire Council should review this and put an appropriate transport and parking strategy in place for Bridgnorth as a priority.”
