Shropshire Council: Re-determine the Barwood Land planning application 22/01432/OUT.
The Issue
Barwood Land's outline planning application 22/01432/OUT for up to 450 homes off Ellesmere Road in Shrewsbury was delegated to officers for conditional approval by Shropshire Council's Northern Planning Committee in April, after a four-year planning process. But the final case officer's report to councillors used transport modelling from a consultant hired by the applicants, PJA Technical Note 05707-T-008 (B), submitted just days before the committee considered the application. It claimed that peak hour traffic would only rise by between 4 and 6% at the station gyratory, or the Battlefield Link.
In June 2026, a letter from a Solicitor and Highways consultant hired by local resident and objector Ken Simpson was published on the Shropshire Council Planning Portal, demanding that the application be sent back to the planning committee .
The grounds for re-determination principally arise from a Transport Review prepared by John Norman Russell CMILT MCIHT, Director of JR Transport Planning Limited ("the Technical Note").
We believe the Technical Note raises matters of significant planning weight, which Shropshire Council are duty bound to consider. The expert evidence now before the Council clearly demonstrates that the proposed development of 450 homes will cause severe traffic impact across the highway network serving Ellesmere Road and the surrounding area. It further demonstrates that the transport evidence upon which the committee based its resolution to grant on 21 April 2026 was not in any way sufficiently robust to support the conclusions drawn from it. These are material planning considerations going to the heart of the planning judgement. The information in it clearly demonstrates the inaccuracy of the developer's highways report used by the council to grant the application.
Shropshire Council's Development Manager has refused to send the application back to the committee. The Council claims it is satisfied that the information on predicted traffic impacts was sufficiently robust and comprehensive to enable a fully informed assessment of the likely effects of the development, and that the critique of the transport modelling by JR Transport Planning does not materially alter the planning balance or indicate that Members would be likely to reach a different decision. As of September 30th, the application is still awaiting decision, pending a s106 agreement.
We the undersigned disagree with the Council’s assessment with regards to the 450-property development application. We believe there is a very real risk that Shropshire Council will lose at Judicial Review if this issue is not reconsidered by councillors in the light of the new Traffic Evidence. We call on the new Planning & Development Services Manager, Tabitha Lythe to instruct the team to send this application back to the Northern Planning Committee for re-determination.
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The Issue
Barwood Land's outline planning application 22/01432/OUT for up to 450 homes off Ellesmere Road in Shrewsbury was delegated to officers for conditional approval by Shropshire Council's Northern Planning Committee in April, after a four-year planning process. But the final case officer's report to councillors used transport modelling from a consultant hired by the applicants, PJA Technical Note 05707-T-008 (B), submitted just days before the committee considered the application. It claimed that peak hour traffic would only rise by between 4 and 6% at the station gyratory, or the Battlefield Link.
In June 2026, a letter from a Solicitor and Highways consultant hired by local resident and objector Ken Simpson was published on the Shropshire Council Planning Portal, demanding that the application be sent back to the planning committee .
The grounds for re-determination principally arise from a Transport Review prepared by John Norman Russell CMILT MCIHT, Director of JR Transport Planning Limited ("the Technical Note").
We believe the Technical Note raises matters of significant planning weight, which Shropshire Council are duty bound to consider. The expert evidence now before the Council clearly demonstrates that the proposed development of 450 homes will cause severe traffic impact across the highway network serving Ellesmere Road and the surrounding area. It further demonstrates that the transport evidence upon which the committee based its resolution to grant on 21 April 2026 was not in any way sufficiently robust to support the conclusions drawn from it. These are material planning considerations going to the heart of the planning judgement. The information in it clearly demonstrates the inaccuracy of the developer's highways report used by the council to grant the application.
Shropshire Council's Development Manager has refused to send the application back to the committee. The Council claims it is satisfied that the information on predicted traffic impacts was sufficiently robust and comprehensive to enable a fully informed assessment of the likely effects of the development, and that the critique of the transport modelling by JR Transport Planning does not materially alter the planning balance or indicate that Members would be likely to reach a different decision. As of September 30th, the application is still awaiting decision, pending a s106 agreement.
We the undersigned disagree with the Council’s assessment with regards to the 450-property development application. We believe there is a very real risk that Shropshire Council will lose at Judicial Review if this issue is not reconsidered by councillors in the light of the new Traffic Evidence. We call on the new Planning & Development Services Manager, Tabitha Lythe to instruct the team to send this application back to the Northern Planning Committee for re-determination.
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Petition created on 2 October 2026