Housing shortages in Shrewsbury have become so severe the council has been forced to knock on farmers' doors to try and acquire new land.

The borough council is ‘way short' of its 500 affordable-homes target for the end of the year, and there are almost 2,300 people currently on a waiting list for homes in the Shrewsbury and Atcham area. At a full council meeting last week, opposition councillor, Mansel Williams claimed the Shropshire town was becoming full of luxury apartments, while thousands waited for an affordable home. But the portfolio holder for housing, Cllr Judith Williams said the problem was a lack of suitable sites to develop the new homes. She said: ‘We are actually knocking on farmers' doors, which is something I thought we would never come to. ‘We've got the money. We just need the land.'