Cleobury Mortimer town plan set to be adopted

A development plan for a south Shropshire town is set to be formally adopted after 84% of voters decided in favour of it.

Shropshire Council is expected to approve the Cleobury Mortimer neighbourhood plan later this week when the council meets at Shirehall.

Once adopted, the neighbourhood plan must be taken into account when any future planning applications are considered.

The plan went to a referendum on December 7, which saw nearly three quarters of voters backing the idea of Shropshire Council using the neighbourhood plan for Cleobury Mortimer to help it decide planning applications in the neighbourhood area. 

The plan includes a raft of new policies to guide future developments, and allocates new housing and business land not included in Shropshire Council’s local plan.

As well as policies relating to the housing design in Cleobury Mortimer and environmental protection schemes, the plan also includes a housing allocation for delivery of 120 homes, and a 1.3ha allocation for extending the existing Tenbury Road employment area.

The plan also allows for an extension to Cleobury Mortimers existing cemetery.

Earlier this month, it was decided a similar scheme for Bishop’s Castle would be put to the vote.

Cleobury Mortimer’s town council kicked off the process in 2017, working with a group of volunteers to compile the draft document before a public consultation was carried out in 2021, and again in 2022.

Shropshire Council appointed an independent examiner to look over a final version of the scheme before it went to referendum last year.

Now, after getting public approval, the plan is set to be adopted by Shropshire Council, meaning it will take immediate effect in the planning process.

“It is considered the final version of the Cleobury Mortimer Neighbourhood Development Plan, which covers the whole parish of Cleobury Mortimer, provides an effective and positive planning framework for taking decisions on planning applications,” said a report to Shropshire Council by Director of place Mark Barrow.

“The plan provides a range of local objectives and policies to supplement the strategic policies of Shropshire’s Local Plan, which largely reflect the priorities of the area and the outcomes of the plan preparation process, which included local community consultation.”

Shropshire Council will discuss a recommendation to adopt the Cleobury Mortimer neighbourhood plan on Thursday, March 21.