• Progress and Achievements 2019-2020

Since the Community-led Town Plan was launched in 2016, the Bishop’s Castle Community Partnership has helped to support, co-ordinate or lead a number of projects with the aim of addressing actions identified in the Community Plan. Listed here are some of the amazing things that have been achieved over the last year by dedicated volunteers. Why not join us?

Download: Progress and Achievements booklet

• BCCP Response to the Town Council’s Traffic Consultation

Surveys undertaken when producing the original Bishop’s Castle Town Plan and follow-up surveys for the Partnership’s Bishop’s Castle Conservation Area Character Assessment, all evidence that:

• To do nothing to alleviate the town centre streets’ problems is not an option as the traffic/parking/pedestrian conflicts already have consequences which will only multiply over time.
• The situation is complex, cannot totally be resolved and requires a holistic approach.
• The task is to make changes that will alleviate the worst problems with the least disruption overall.

The Partnership has consequently proposed the following:

• Support for the proposed one-way system down High Street and part of Church Street with:
• Access from Salop Street (two-way), New Street (one-way westwards) and Harley Jenkins Street (two-way).
• An alternative option to that proposed in the Town Council consultation document for Welsh Street – a one-way system westward along Welsh Street from the junction with Market Square/Union Street to the Wintles periphery road junction.
• Street floorscape works to better accommodate the competing needs of pedestrians, parking and traffic movement on Salop Street and Welsh Street in particular.

Details of the benefits/impacts of these proposals are contained in the partnership submission

BCCP Response to Town Traffic Management Plan Consultation

• Welsh Street Housing Land Kicked Out! New Site Sought

The controversial site for new houses straddling Welsh Street (site no. BIS028), which was put forward by Shropshire Council in 2017, has been removed from the Draft Shropshire Local Plan.

This is a major success for the town but it is only the first step.  The original proposal was for 70 houses, but part of that has been met by the new development of 24 houses off Oak Meadow and some individual planning permissions. The final outcome has yet to be assured as a site for 40 houses must still be found in Bishop’s Castle in order to satisfy a government requirement to maintain a continuous 5-year supply of housing land.

It is 9 years since Shropshire Council first proposed 60 houses at the rear of Oak Meadow, covering part of the current BIS028 site. The strong opposition from across the community in 2012 was based primarily on the site’s location west of the town which would increase pressures on streets that were already impacted by traffic and parking problems.  This led to the removal of the site and the alternative being approved for 40 houses at School House Lane.  This site has yet to be developed.

In the current Draft Shropshire Local Plan that will be considered by the government’s Planning Inspectorate for approval in spring, no alternative site to BIS028 is being suggested.  Rather, Shropshire Council has stated that the Bishop’s Castle Neighbourhood Development Plan (NDP) will allocate a site instead.

The NDP is being developed by the Town Council taking into consideration the Community-Led Town Plan which was developed and is managed by the Community Partnership.  The surveys undertaken for the Town Plan, particularly the Character Assessment of the Conservation Area and the data relating to traffic and parking, inform much of the NDP.  They also provide evidence for several of its policies and for the selection of a housing site on the eastern side of the Conservation Area.

With the forthcoming publication of its Neighbourhood Plan (NDP), Bishop’s Castle now has the opportunity to decide for itself where future housing should be sited. The NDP will include a proposed site.  It will go before the Planning Inspectorate for approval in spring when there will be an opportunity for public consultation.  This will be your chance to have your say and help shape the future of the Town. Should the NDP and its site allocation be approved, this will address the housing land requirement up to 2038.

Bishop’s Castle Town Council and Bishop’s Castle Community Partnership – Jan 2021

• Shropshire Local Plan

Bishop’s Castle Community Partnership has responded to the Shropshire Council Draft Local Plan.  The Partnership felt a response was necessary because historically, Shropshire Council Local Plan allocations in Bishop’s Castle have always been proposed along the western edge of the town’s Development Boundary, despite overwhelming objections from the Bishop’s Castle community.  This remained the case in 2019 with the original Shropshire Local Plan Consultation, which has now been updated as this Pre-submission Draft Local Plan.

Unless it can be agreed that clear and specific Planning reasons exist as to why development along the western edge of the Development Boundary is inappropriate, future Local Plans are likely to continue to allocate sites on the western boundary as long as landowners are happy to put their land forward. This Local Plan Consultation process provides the opportunity to define Planning reasons for appropriate site allocations.
You can download a copy of BCCP’s response to the Local Plan here . . Submission to Draft SC Local Plan by BCCP

• Bishop’s Castle Community-led Town Plan – Progress Report

The new Bishop’s Castle Community Partnership Charity [BCCP] has been formed to replace the Town Plan working group.  As a formally constituted charity, with its own bank account, the BCCP will be able to seek funding for its many initiatives to benefit the community.  It will continue to work closely with the Town Council, with representatives from the Town Council on the committee.

The BCCP is a small group of volunteers, and for it to be a success, we urgently need more people to help with the wide range of initiatives which are aimed at improving all aspects of life in Bishop’s Castle.   It isn’t a heavy commitment, a few hours every month at most helping with interesting community projects.   Please contact Keith Whiddon keith.whiddon@btinternet.com 07971 661615

Aims of the Community Partnership

• Work closely with partners to translate the actions within the Community Town Plan into reality and practice. – To bring together individuals and groups with a shared interest in Bishop’s Castle under a common action plan, planned and delivered together;
• Regularly consult the community on its needs and prioritise the actions required. – To continue liaison with the people of Bishop’s Castle to express their views with regard to the implementation of the Community Town Plan;
• Identify and bid for potential sources of funding (often unavailable to statutory bodies) to support local priorities;
• Provide a strategy for the development of the Town and key economic, social and environmental priorities;
• Represent the interests of the local community at County and national level. – Act as a lobbying/pressure group when necessary on behalf of the community;
• Support the community of Bishop’s Castle and its environs to achieve a better quality of life for residents. – To deliver improvements to the local community which may not happen in any other way, for example providing support/advice for small-scale start-up projects.

Copies of the Plan and its annexes may be viewed at Enterprise House, Library, Town Hall, Doctor’s Surgery, Community College, SpArC, BCHRC and our local pubs. It may also be downloaded below:

bishops-castle-community-town-plan-october-2016

bishops-castle-community-town-plan-annexes-october-2016

If you can offer some time to help, however little, we’d love to hear from you.

Contact us at:-  townplan@bishopscastle.co.uk

or via our new Facebook page at www.facebook.com/communityplan

Keith Whiddon, Chair, Bishop’s Castle Community Partnership

A graphical summary of the responses to the Town Plan survey can be seen in attached document
[2 Town Plan Responses Graphics v0.2]