Preventing Urban Sprawl in Gloucestershire

 If you didn’t manage to sign the petition yesterday, you still can here: sign our petition!!

** A Walk in the Rain -  2pm Second Annual Protest Walk as Great success**

Thanks to everyone to turned out yesterday (May 17th) for our protest walk – the consensus was “Surely its clear how much we care if over 100 people are prepared to give up their sunday afternoon to walk through driving rain for two hours to make our point”. Reporters from local press and television filmed and interviewed us and we’ll put up the results as soon as they come in. In the mean time – here is a photo collage.

Cheltenham protesters brave the rain to make their point

 

info@savethecountryside.org.uk

 

 

 

 

 

 

Further details about the campaign:

 

“Save The Countryside” is made up of Swindon Village and Elmstone Hardwicke residents who were alarmed by the settlement of 5,000 houses planned to be built to the North-West of Cheltenham alongside the Tewkesbury Road between Swindon Village and Elmstone Hardwick. See the outline plans here. The Goverment plans an unprecedented rate of growth for the area aiming to build these houses by 2016. We believe these projections are based on a deeply flawed model of the numbers required.

Key concerns are:

• Increased traffic on roads that are already congested
• Loss of the village character of Swindon Village
• Increased pollution
• Loss of green space for walking
• Tragic loss of wildlife
• Increased Flood risks

The Government imposed a target of 12,500 houses on the Cheltenham built-up area by 2026 in its draft Regional Spatial Strategy – a growth of 25% in the next 18 years. Following a review, this is set to increase to 13,800 houses. If this happens it will be an unprecedented rate of growth in the area and will have a massive impact on our town and its quality.

The major focus of growth will be in the Greenbelt along Tewkesbury Rd towards the junction with the M5 motorway. A settlement of 4,000 was originally planned here straddling Cheltenham around Swindon Village and stretching into Tewkesbury. This is recommended to increase to 5,000 in the final Regional Spatial Strategy. See the plans

The Government is keen to pursue a national growth strategy. As a result of this it wants 2 million houses built in the UK by 2020. This will see a substantial increase in the population of the area as people move here from other parts of the country.

It has offered some funding for ‘infrastructure and planning’ to those Councils that agree to ‘accelerate’ their rate of growth, and deliver some of their 2026 housing targets by 2016. As a result of this, Cheltenham and Tewkesbury Borough Council has applied for funding for infrastructure for an ‘urban extension’ of 5,000 houses to be built by 2016. This is equivalent to a town bigger than Tewkesbury being built on the outskirts of Cheltenham. It is institutionalised urban sprawl.

It will mean:

• Building on the Green Belt which was meant to stop Urban Sprawl
• A huge increase in traffic along Tewkesbury Road and all surrounding areas
• A huge increase in people moving into the area – but it will not provide ‘affordable’ housing for local people, which is what is needed.
• Endangering the environmental quality of the town – the very thing that is the basis of its success.

‘Save the Countryside’ is opposed to this development and the Government’s growth strategy. We call on local councils to resist these plans, to oppose the increase in housing numbers and protect the green belt.

We call on local people:

• To support this campaign to stop urban sprawl – and to lobby your MP, Parish, District and County Councillors.
• To oppose any planning permission for a new town on the outskirts of Cheltenham when the application comes forward. The longer we can delay these plans, the more chance there is of stopping them ever happening.

Please:

• Sign the petition going round, and if you have an e-mail and want to be kept informed, give us your number. Contact us if you want to get involved by writing to the address at the bottom of this page.
  
• Get involved in the campaign – and actively oppose this development.

“Save The Countryside”, 14 Clarence Walk, St. George’s Place, Cheltenham GL50 3RG

“Things are really kicking off here. Developers Land Trust are submitting planning applications later this month for 10,000 dwellings under the title of Ashton Park there will be 6 different sections all with names they have somehow increased the dwellings by 1,000. This does not take into account the new development at Barrow Hospital but this is under another developer although this developer has retro planning for part of the site they will also be seeking planning permission later this month for the remainder of the site. To apply for planning consent at this particular time I feel is totally undemocratic as The Greenbelt is still protected so I feel their applications is somewhat premature without the results of the RSS being known which we have been advised will not be until at least July/August. Or do they know something we don’t know!”