Pontesbury

Pontesbury (pɒntsbəri ) is a village and civil parish in Shropshire, and is approximately eight miles southwest of Shrewsbury. In the 2011 census, the village had a population of 1,873 and the parish had a population of 3,227. The village of Minsterley is just over a mile further southwest. The A488 road runs through the village, on its way from Shrewsbury to Bishop's Castle. The Rea Brook flows close by to the north with the village itself nestling on the northern edge of the Shropshire Hills AONB. Shropshire County Council in their current Place Plan detail the development strategy and refer to Pontesbury and neighbouring Minsterley as towns. The village is the seat of an extensive civil parish, with its own parish council grouped into five wards, representing the village and outlying areas such as the villages and hamlets of Pontesford, Plealey, Asterley, Cruckton, Cruckmeole, Arscott, Lea Cross, Malehurst etc., as well as Habberley (which was previously a civil parish in its own right until 1967). It hosts an official Pontesbury Parish website. It is represented on the unitary Shropshire Council and in parliament in the Shrewsbury and Atcham constituency. Several housing developments are reshaping the village, with 86 new homes named Cricketer's Meadow, being added at Hall Bank, and 25 homes named Young's Piece, built on the site of a former lead smelting area on Minsterley Road. Soil samples taken at the site of Young's Piece during the planning application process (since removed) showed lead contamination was in excess of the applicable threshold level/critical concentration. The area was identified as requiring a one and a half million pound spend to remove lead and arsenic pollution from the ground. An application for outline planning permission has been granted for demolition of The Horseshoes Pub on Minsterley Road to make way for the erection of four houses. The pub occupies the site of an historic lead smelting works and according to the application was designated contaminated land in 2007.