A REVISED scheme has been prepared for housing development on a site in Ludlow town centre.

The development is proposed for the site of the Shropshire Council offices at Stone House.

It is also the site of an underground cold war bunker.

The site is also home to a grade II listed building that would be retained.

Shropshire Council has agreed a sale of the site to Purcell Developments but this is conditional upon planning application for housing development.

The original proposal that has been modified was to build 25 houses on the site.

But it did not go well with Historic England.

The conservation group said that the scheme ‘would cause serious harm to the setting of Stone House although he accepts that the council offices on the site were also detrimental.

‘As an absolute maximum the proposed development should be no larger in total built volume than what which it replaces and that it should have less impact on the settings of the listed historic buildings and on the character of the conservation area.’

Andy Boddington, who represents Ludlow on Shropshire Council and is a member of the planning committee, is also less than impressed.

“It is not as naff as the first set of designs but is otherwise little different,” he said.

“The major change in the new proposal is that the balconies have been moved from the front of the housing in the main block to the rear – so they face north and east, rather than south and west. That improves the design of the façade.

“To accommodate the balconies, the building line has been brought forward into the central square.”