New plans for homes to be built in a north Shropshire village have been submitted seven years after earlier proposals for the site were rejected.

The applicant says the new development in Trefonen will address a desperate need for starter homes and bungalows in the community.

Previous plans for 22 homes on the land, between Chapel Lane and Oswestry Road, were rejected by councillors in 2014 and the decision was upheld by the Planning Inspectorate on appeal.

But the landowner, Howard Martin, says the new scheme of 23 properties is a better layout and will go a considerable way to meeting the village’s housing target of 55 properties to be built by 2038, set out in Shropshire Council’s new local plan.

Under the plan, which is to be adopted next year, Trefonen is to be upgraded from ‘countryside’, where development is not normally permitted, to ‘hub’ status, which comes with the expectation of housing growth. Despite this, no specific sites have been identified by the council for development.

A planning statement submitted in support of the application by Les Stephan Planning, agent to the applicant, says refusal of the previous application contributed to the “unmet local housing need” in Trefonen, identified by the council in preparing the draft local plan.

The statement says the council has “ignored” national planning policy in its decision not to earmark any sites in the village, despite giving it ‘hub’ status and a housing target.

The agent goes on to say the proposed housing mix is in response to housing needs surveys, discussions with local estate agents and analysis of properties sold and currently on the market in the area which “shows the shortage of intermediate property available for local families”.

The planning statement adds: “It is therefore incumbent on the council to determine this application on the basis of emerging policy rather than existing policy which can not address the identified housing shortfall in Trefonen.

“Urgently needed housing should not be delayed pending the introduction of a new local plan.”

The site is on the edge of the former Trefonen brickworks and has been in agricultural use since the closure of the brickworks at the turn of the 19th century. It is close to a scheduled section of Offa’s Dyke.

The exact layout of the development, design of the houses and landscaping will be subject to a separate application if outline permission is granted. The applicant says the homes will be constructed by local building firm Dennis Edwards Homes “soon after the reserved matters have been approved”.

The agent’s statement concludes: “It has been demonstrated that the 23 dwellings proposed in this application will address the urgent unmet need for smaller family housing and bungalows which currently exists in Trefonen, without adversely affecting the visual character of the settlement or harming the Offa’s Dyke Scheduled Ancient Monument or its setting.”

The application will now be decided by Shropshire Council.