Yesterday, a major democratic step was made towards saving the beauty of the Shropshire Hills. The South Shropshire Plannng Committee, chaired by Cecilia Motley, stood their ground and – despite a recommendation from planning officials to recommend permission to build a giant industrial wind turbine at The Hills, near Bridgnorth, that would desecrate the local historic landscape – voted to refuse planning permission.
As reported in the Shropshire Star today, Conservative Councillor Robert Tindall – who voted against the application – said: ‘I am not against wind turbines per se but something of this height will seriously change the landscape of this very lovely part of south Shropshire’.
The vote was an overall majority of six against and three in favour. As the Shropshire Star added: ‘The decision raised a round of applause from the packed public audience at the meeting.’
The news get better for Localism. The day before a local farmer who lives close to Monkhopton completely withdrew his application for a smaller wind turbine in the beautiful countryside of the Corvedale close to Bourton that had caused great anger within the local community as the farmer wholly failed to understand that although he may own a small amount of land in the Shropshire Hils, he does not own the landscape. The landscape is owned by all of us and the very point of Localism is for the ‘community’ to express its democratic voice.
Well that voice has certainly now been heard, largely thanks to the extremely hard work of my colleague Dr Chris Douglas, co-chairman of the Stop Bridgnorth Wind Farm campaign. His work, and that of our committee members has shown that councillors will listen to the voice of community – and that the democracy can win out in the planning system, despite the odds often being stacked against small villages and parishes who do not have anything like the resources to match unscrupulpus developers and farmers who are driven soley by self-interest.
The Upton Cressett wind turbine application by farmer Clive Millington at Criddon, Upton Cressett, is likely to be voted on next. One sincerely hopes that the voice of Shrosphire and the local community will be heard again by the South Shropshire Planning Committee. Only this time the very serious damage to the ‘historic setting’ of the Grade 1 hamlet of Upton Cressett – winner of the Hudson’s Heritage Award for ‘Best Hidden Gem’ as a heritage tourism destination in the entire UK – should prove to be a ‘showstopper’ that encourages the planning officials at Shropshire Council – led by case officer Graham French, on advice from Dr Andy Wigley, head of the historic environment team – to recommend ‘refusal’ of the permission when it comes to a vote.
Thankfully, there is now a very good High Court legal precedent from a similar planning case in Norfolk, involving protecting the historic setting of two Grade 1 historic properties from turbine desecration, that provide Shropshire Council with solid reason to recommend refusal on the grounds of the gravity of the potential damage to the setting of Upton Cressett, where the proposed turbines are just 1600 metres from The Gatehouse (Grade 1) and entrance to the Hall (Grade 1) and the Grade 1 Norman church. Heritage tourism – as well as equestrian tourtism – is essential to the Shropshire economy.
The renowned heritage expert Jeremy Musson, former architectual editor of Country Life and one of the country’s leading heritage planning authorities has recently written to Shropshire Council to say that almost exactly the same conditions with regards to heritage protection exist at Upton Cressett as in Norfolk.
I will be Blogging about the contents of Jeremy Musson’s recommendations to Shropshire Council in my next Blog. The result of this important High Court ruling that overturned a Planning Inspector’s appeal decision is that it sends a very clear message to Shropshire Council that Grade 1 historic settings of national significance – also important to thelocal economy – need to be protected by the NPPF.
The industrialisation of the ancient landscape around Upton Cressett and the wider area around Bridgnorth would be devastating to the appeal of the area for walkers, riders and the thousands who visit Upton Cressett each year as way of taking a magical ‘step back in time’ to enjoy the unspoilt beauty of one of the county’s best loved and acclaimed heritage beauty spots.