By Carmelo Garcia – Local Democracy Reporter
There are concerns Cheltenham’s housing targets are “totally unrealistic” as the spa town needs to build 16,420 homes over the next 20 years.
The Borough Council is working in partnership with Tewkesbury Borough Council and Gloucester City Council on developing its new strategic local plan for the three areas.
The blueprint will set out where more than 43,000 homes will be built and it could see the creation of new towns across Gloucestershire.
However, while the three authorities are working well together Cheltenham leader Rowena Hay has blasted the Government’s targets as “unrealistic”.
“In terms of the strategic local plan, that continues to progress,” she said at the meeting on March 23.
“The partnership across the board is working really well with the three of us.
“But the headline housing numbers that the Government has set are just unrealistic.
“What we need is a constructive conversation about how we genuinely tackle our housing needs.
“That is something we need to be picking up with the MP and Government.”
She went on to say “it’s not that we don’t want to build houses, because we do.
“But we believe the number and quantity and where they go should remain and be decided by local rather than a dicktat of how many because they are totally unrealistic.”
She also said the council is well outside of its targets due to the updated figures.
Max Wilkinson, the spa town’s Liberal Democrat MP, said: “Regardless of the fact that Cheltenham cannot deliver its housing targets because the borough is built up to its boundaries, the next version of the local plan is a huge opportunity for sustainable development and regeneration in our town centre. It’s good news this is a focus for the next local plan.
“I applaud the local council for that and we should be sceptical of arguments that new sites on the edge of town are the most deliverable option.
“If that’s the case, why have the strategic allocations for Cheltenham in the current joint core strategy been approved and built at such a slow pace?
“Whatever happens, the town centre needs to be a bigger focus.”
The Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government has previously said they inherited the worst housing crisis in living memory
They say because of this all areas must play their part in plans to build 1.5 million homes across the country to restore the “dream of homeownership”.