Author: David Tooley - Local Democracy Reporter

Officials believe it will achieve a profit for the parish in about two years through takings from being hired by community organisations and public bodies.

A Telford parish councillor has lost his seat on one of the three councils he serves on after running up against the six months rule.

Developers will be invited to think again over plans for 40 ‘affordable’ homes in Wellington after councillors raised concerns about the scheme.

A Telford homeowner has been told that a council was right to tell him to remove all the windows he…

A resident who planned a ‘slight increase’ in the size of a new seven-bed house being built in Telford had been asked to provide more information to officials who have now refused his part-retrospective planning application.

A SaTH board meeting on Thursday (March 12) also heard of continuing 12 hour-plus waits in accident and emergency as patients wait for beds to be made available.

“We are running with no headroom,” Mr Hobbs said.

The audit found a range of issues including fire compartmentation, storage of oxygen cylinders and other materials on escape routes, issues with training in fire safety, obstruction of fire exits and overcrowding.

The trust board meeting was told on Thursday (March 12) that many of the risks had already been dealt with but replacing damaged fire doors took longer to fix.

Lidl was recently granted permission for a bigger store at the new mixed development taking shape off Marsh Meadow Way at Redhill along with a host of conditions

But planning officers at Telford & Wrekin Council wrote that it is ‘regrettable’ that a sustainable connection link from the A5 will not be available for the opening of the food store for technical reasons.

Planning inspector Rachel Standfield reached a split decision ruling – with deciding against Mr Price’s single storey side extension and front porch. But the inspector allowed him to keep front and rear boundary walls.

The leader of Telford & Wrekin Council has defended the borough’s independence as the government consults on new areas for agreeing strategic development.

Councillor Lee Carter, leader of Telford & Wrekin, said the borough’s independence is “non negotiable.”

Telford & Wrekin Council officials had ruled that Mick Barber’s plan for the outbuilding off Malt House Bank in Little Wenlock would be too large in comparison to the main property.

But Mr Barber’s agent has told the Planning Inspectorate that it would be a “modest outbuilding that is suitably distant, well-designed, subservient and reflective of the old farm yard which once operated here.”

Telford councillors will be invited to look at new ‘innovative’ ways of providing housing in the borough.

They could be asked to examine using garage conversions, micro and modular builds, pods and other ‘compact’ dwellings, a report reveals.

Care companies have lodged checks with the council to see if the law allows them to use two properties in Dawley.

In both cases the council’s planning department has been told that the applications are for Certificates of Lawfulness.

The council has told its own planning department how it plans to go about the demolition process, which could start in April, 2026, and last for two months.

Refurbishment had been considered but officials decided that this was not as “cost effective as a new purpose-built and future-proof facility”.

Hadley & Leegomery Parish Council had controversially tried to sell Hadley Cemetery Lodge but it ended up being taken off the property market at the end of last year.

Planning agent, chartered architect John Norfolk, wrote on the planning portal: “This is the first HMO I have worked on and had I known the upset that this proposal would have caused I would likely have declined to be involved…”

Charles and Amanda Bathurst spoke out at hearings examining the soundness of the local plan when they slammed the lack of small housing developments in smaller villages.

Major developers have challenged the legality of a council plan to demand that at least one in every four homes built in Telford are ‘affordable’.

Council officials were this week defending a requirement for major housing developments in urban Telford include a minimum of 25 per cent ‘affordable’ homes, with 35 per cent in Newport and the rural areas of the borough.

Resident Kevan Hendy warned of problems from 10,000 extra car journeys causing problems on the A442 and M54.

Mr Hendy told officials that he had identified a £50 million shortfall in funding for highways over the local plan period to 2040.

“It’s an absolute nonsense,” Mr Hendy told officials as he challenged them to explain.

A councillor told the government inspectors examining the soundness of the local plan that it now seems to be a “done deal.”

Councillor Nigel Dugmore (Conservative, Muxton) said: “It all seems to be a done deal with Bratton and Muxton well advanced.

“What’s the point in having an inspectors report if things are going ahead?”

A casual vacancy has been announced in the Lightmoor ward of The Gorge Parish Council after the resignation of Councillor Vivienne Moore.

The agricultural land off Church Road in Lilleshall, near Newport, has been placed in the draft Telford & Wrekin local plan as possibly taking 49 new homes.

Council planners in background documents say issues to do with access and possible flooding “will not significantly impact the deliverability and viability of the site.”

Already set to speak are local opponents, developers, the Shawbirch Medical Practice and even a representative of Dobbies Garden Centres.

The former AGA site at Wellington Road was the subject of a controversy in 2024 when the Government warned that the Ironbridge Gorge World Heritage Site could be placed at risk, and might ultimately be delisted if plans went ahead.

Named ‘Bratton Green’ by developer Bloor Homes, the site covers 88.5 hectares of farm land between the A442 and the B5063 north of the Bratton and Shawbirch area.

The council has presented developing 8,000 homes in three new communities to the north of Telford as a part of its strategy to find space for 20,000 new homes up to 2041.

Read the full report on the opening day of the local plan hearings.

Plans have been lodged to turn a detached bungalow in Wellington into a ‘much needed’ nursery for 35 young children…

Council officials are aiming to issue a key report into the possible development of 600 homes on farmland backing onto Dulwich Grange, Bratton Road and Jockey Meadow just north of Bratton in the next few weeks, documents show.

Officials at Hollinswood and Randlay Parish Council say it is “at least” the fourth time this year that the Pavilion Field has been targeted by quad and dirt bike riders doing deliberate ‘doughnuts’.

Across three weeks of all-day hearings government planning inspectors Mike Worden and Catherine Carpenter will be listening to representations from Telford & Wrekin Council, local councillors, campaigners, and developers.

St Georges & Priorslee Parish Council is lining up to move into new premises in The Gower, a former Victorian community hospital being brought back to life.

Over the next five years council officials estimate that about £15.4 million will need to be spent on looking after the borough’s schools.

Is your local school in the list?

The business has asked for advertising consent to reinstate four fascia signs on two fascia panels after maintenance.

Council tax bills in Telford and Wrekin are set to rise by an average of 5.13 per cent when the next demands are sent out, a report shows.

Telford & Wrekin Council is looking to put its element of the tax up by the maximum allowed – 4.99 per cent – and put every penny into caring for vulnerable adults and children.

Neighbours in the residential street say “traffic and parking in New Street is already at breaking point.”

Planning agent EMS Design, of Market Drayton, has told planners at Telford & Wrekin Council that it “supports economic growth while safeguarding residential amenity.”

A new footbridge and two passenger lifts are set to bring ‘step free’ access to Wellington Railway Station.

Planners have been told that Network Rail has investigated replacing the current stepped footbridge but it is “not feasible” to add lifts within the existing Victorian station.

Church leaders have applied for permission to build a disabled ramp so wheelchair users don’t have to take a ‘derogatory’ back route into the building.

Officials were told that the plan is in line with the promotion of energy efficiency and renewable energy sources as the council aims to be carbon neutral.