Locations for nearly 44,000 new homes revealed

The planned locations for almost 44,000 homes to be built across three neighbouring areas over the next 20 years have been revealed.

Ashchurch in Tewkesbury will be the site for 6,000 homes, while Churchdown, near Gloucester, and Swindon Village and Up Hatherley, on the outskirts of Cheltenham are all expected to accommodate more than 1,000 homes each according to the latest Strategic and Local Plan (SLP).

The joint plan details development areas and those areas which are protected from development.

The three district councils involved have acknowledged the targets are unfair but said “tough conversations” needed to take place about meeting housing needs in their areas.

Richard Stanley, leader of Tewkesbury Borough Council said: "We live in an area where it's really difficult for people to get on the housing ladder…

"People want to be able to have good, secure housing. [So] we do need to build and deliver those homes."

Cheltenham Borough Council leader Rowena Hay said the SLP is backed by evidence and she is confident in the plan.

"Without a plan it's a developers' delight to build anywhere and there's nothing we can do about it," she said.

About 5,000 homes have already been built and a further 14,000 have been granted planning permission.

The councils said working together to identify where development should take place will allow for key infrastructure, such as sewage systems, and gas and electricity connections, to be put in place.

Planners said the SLP has also been independently assessed by traffic consultants, who claim the homes in Ashchurch can go ahead without planned improvements to junction 9A of the M5, which failed to get government support.

Councillors are hopeful the scheme will be brought back in one of the scheduled five year reassessments of the SLP.

The SLP will be voted on by each of the three councils next week. If passed, a public consultation will be launched by 16 November.

It will then return to the councils in the spring, before it is assessed by the Planning Inspectorate later next year.

The SLP will then be adopted by any future authority, after Gloucestershire's seven councils are abolished and replaced by one “super council” under Local Government Reorganisation (LGR).

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