Yes, we deliver the CR450 crusher to Whitchurch and the farms around it. Our yard at Ford is roughly 30 miles south, and the run is round Shrewsbury then up the A49 through Prees. We bring it on a trailer, show you the controls and pick it up when you're finished.
- From our yard
- About 30 miles · 45 mins
- Route
- A458 and A5 round Shrewsbury, then the A49 north via Prees and the A41
- Council
- Shropshire Council
- Waste regulator
- Environment Agency
Why is on-site crushing useful on Whitchurch dairy farms?
Whitchurch made its name as a Cheshire cheese town, and dairy still shapes the land around it. Belton Farm has made cheese in Whitchurch since 1922 and takes milk from about 85 farms within 25 miles. Farms of that kind are full of concrete: collecting yards, silage clamps, feed passages, tracks and the bases of older dairy buildings that no longer suit modern herds.
When a yard is rebuilt or a shed comes down, that concrete has to go somewhere, and hauling it off a farm down narrow lanes is slow and expensive. A tracked crusher can sit beside the heap, loaded by a mini excavator, and turn the old slab into hardcore for a new track, a gateway or the base under the replacement yard.
What is Whitchurch's housing like, street by street?
Across the two town wards the 2021 census records 5,217 households. Detached homes make up 36.6% and semis 32.2%, but the split between the wards is telling. The North ward is the more tightly built, with 22.5% terraced and 10.8% flats, while the South ward is 42.5% detached and 39.8% semi, the pattern of newer suburban estates with a drive and garage to every house.
The old town is far older than that. Whitchurch Urban has 110 listed buildings, one at Grade I and seven at Grade II*, ranging from timber-framed and cruck buildings of the 14th to 17th centuries on streets like Bargates to Georgian brick. St Alkmund's Church, built in 1712 to 1713, and the former town hall of 1718 anchor the centre, with brick outbuildings and yard walls tucked behind the terraces.
How much building is planned for Whitchurch?
Shropshire's adopted SAMDev plan sets Whitchurch around 1,200 dwellings and 26 hectares of employment land for 2006 to 2026. The largest piece is Tilstock Road, where Barratt and David Wilson are building 546 homes across Clockmakers and Talbot Place, with the second phase under construction in July 2024. Smaller allocations include Mount Farm (100 homes), Alport Road (60) and land west of Oaklands Farm (60).
The county's draft Local Plan to 2038 was withdrawn from examination in July 2025, and work on a new plan to 2046 only reached scoping consultation in summer 2026. With Shropshire showing 4.61 years of housing land supply, edge-of-town applications are appearing: Richborough lodged outline plans for up to 280 homes west of the town near the A41 in July 2026, which were still pending.
What ground and heritage issues affect sites in Whitchurch?
The town is built over Mediolanum, the Roman settlement on the road between Chester and Wroxeter, and Shropshire Council reported new Roman finds as recently as 2016. Central sites should expect archaeological conditions, so it's worth checking before breaking ground below an existing slab. Planning policy also asks for mitigation where development could affect the nearby Fenns, Whixall, Bettisfield, Wem and Cadney Mosses, and Brown Moss, all protected wetland sites.
Wet ground is a real factor here. The Llangollen Canal collapsed near New Mills Lift Bridge on 22 December 2025. Kier began rebuilding it in August 2026, using imported granular fill and a concrete lining, but work was paused in September because the ground was too wet. Check for any road or towpath restrictions nearby before a delivery, and look up the flood map near Staggs Brook.
Can the crusher help on Whitchurch's industrial sites?
Waymills Industrial Estate is a safeguarded employment area and includes a 35-acre cold-storage and food logistics site. Two more employment allocations are set out in SAMDev: Oaklands Farm, 8.5 hectares for general industry and storage including recycling and environmental uses, and Heath Road, an 11-hectare gateway business park off the A525. All of these involve yards, service roads and hardstanding that wear out and get replaced.
On a unit refit, the damaged slab can be broken out, fed through the CR450 and graded anywhere between 3mm and 55mm for use under the new surface. Concrete, block, paving and tarmac all go through the same jaw. The machine runs 12 hours or more on a tank, so a full working day on a yard job does not stop for fuel.
What else is changing in and around Whitchurch town?
Not all of the town's building is on green fields. At Pauls Moss in Dodington, work started in February 2022 on 71 extra-care apartments and a new health centre, an example of older central land being reworked for new uses. Sites like that tend to throw up old floor slabs, hardstanding and boundary walls, which can be broken down on the plot rather than taken away.
Shropshire's adopted site allocations plan also lists wastewater treatment upgrades as a constraint on new development here, so larger schemes in Whitchurch have to wait on infrastructure as well as planning. Smaller jobs carry on regardless: extensions, new drives and garden landscaping around the Whitchurch Waterways Country Park side of town, where Staggs Brook means it's worth checking the flood map before you dig.
What do people crush in Whitchurch?
Rebuilding a dairy yard
Farms supplying milk to Whitchurch's cheesemakers regularly replace worn collecting yards, clamp floors and feed passages. Crush the old concrete beside the yard and reuse it as sub-base or as hardcore for farm tracks and gateways.
Drives on the South ward estates
With four in five homes in the South ward detached or semi-detached, concrete drives and garage bases are everywhere. When one is replaced, the broken slab crushes into a base for the new block paving.
Groundworks off Tilstock Road
Edge-of-town schemes such as the Tilstock Road phases involve clearing old farm buildings and hardstanding before roads go in. Crushing that material on site produces hardcore for haul roads and working areas.
Infill plots inside the town
SAMDev expects windfall sites within the development boundary. Where an old garage, workshop or outbuilding is cleared for a new house, the brick and concrete can be crushed and reused on the same plot.
Firm footing on wet north Shropshire ground
The Llangollen Canal embankment breach showed how soft the ground around Whitchurch can get, and the rebuild relies on imported granular fill. On a smaller scale, a heap of broken concrete crushed to a coarse grade gives a solid working platform, gateway or track across wet land near Staggs Brook without buying in stone.
Do you need a permit to crush concrete in Whitchurch?
Crushing concrete, brick or tile with a machine is a regulated activity, even on your own site, and on a self-hire the person running the crusher is treated as the operator. Before you start, contact Shropshire Council. The council decides whether the job needs a mobile plant (Part B) permit, or whether it is small enough to register a T7 exemption with them instead.
Reusing the crushed material on the same site is normally covered by a U1 exemption, registered with the Environment Agency, which has charged for exemptions in England since July 2025. Keep asbestos, plastics, timber and metal out of the feed. We’re happy to talk it through when you book, but the council has the final say.
Where around Whitchurch do we deliver?
- Prees
- Tilstock
- Ash Magna
- Ash Parva
- Whixall
- Ightfield
- Calverhall
- Edstaston
- Fauls
- Alkington
- Dodington
- Wirswall
- Malpas
