By Carmelo Garcia – Local Democracy Reporter
There is a “golden opportunity” to scrap controversial plans for new towns in the Forest of Dean as a target to build almost 13,000 new homes could be slashed.
That is the view of people who oppose the idea of creating new settlements to meet Government housing targets in the west of Gloucestershire.
Civic chiefs had been planning to create new towns as part of their bid to get more than 12,631 homes built in the district over the next 20 years.
Land at Glynchbrook, which lies between the M50 and A417 near Redmarley, was identified as a site as part of the Forest of Dean District Council’s proposed local plan along with a new 2000-home settlement next to the A40 in Churcham near Gloucester.
However, councillors pulled the development blueprint in June and have agreed to start the process again under a new framework.
And changes to national planning policy mean the council is looking to develop a shorter blueprint which allocates housing land over ten years instead of 20. This would see the new plan have a reduced target of around 8,000 homes.
The Forest’s Labour MP Matt Bishop, opposition councillors and planning experts had opposed the council’s previous strategy which included new settlements.
“We absolutely need new homes in the Forest of Dean, particularly genuinely affordable homes for local people,” Mr Bishop said.
“But they should be built sensibly, alongside the infrastructure and public services communities need, and development should be fairly and sustainably planned across the district.
“The Government has now given the council an opportunity to think again. The Greens should take it, shorten the local plan, scrap Glynchbrook and come forward with a plan based on what is best for the whole Forest of Dean.”
Nicholas Boys Smith MBE, Chairman of Create Streets said they are pleased to see that Glynchbrook can finally be taken off the table for good.
“With the new National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), Forest of Dean District Council no longer needs randomly to drop a new town unsustainably into the countryside,” he said.
“Instead, with the new local plan, the council can plan properly: creating beautiful homes in sustainable places, where people can walk to school, the shop or the station, not depending on a car for every single journey.
“The NPPF’s focus on a ‘vision-led approach’ to transport infrastructure is welcome.”
County Councillor Gill Moseley (LD, Newent) said she too welcomed the changes to national planning policy as “it hands the Forest of Dean District Council a golden opportunity to scrap
Glynchbrook and deliver housing that is genuinely sustainable and in the interests of the local people”.
“The last local plan was obliged to meet an unreasonable housing target over a 20-year period. It was simply more than the district could absorb and pushed the Council towards drastic options like Glynchbrook that were never right for the area. The new NPPF changes all that.
“I would urge the council to plan over the shorter, ten-year period the new framework now allows. This would keep the annual housing requirement realistic and, crucially, deliverable.
This would mean we can meet the district’s needs in and around the towns and villages that already have services people rely on, without concreting over green fields for a town no one asked for.”
And Councillor John Francis (I, Huntley and Longhope), who represents Churcham in Coleford, believes it is now unlikely that the two new towns will proceed as part of the next local plan.
“This is going to be proved and discussed through council, but I would have thought with the, certainly the Churcham development with the problems highlighted by the lack of infrastructure,” he said.
“The congestion at Over Bridge is causing so much problem and if you look at the The Gloucestershire Transport plan, where they, where they, they are concentrating on the routes between Gloucester and Cheltenham.
“There isn’t any large capital sums of money which are there to improve any connectivity between the Forest of Dean and Gloucester.
“There’s no large magic money tree coming along that will actually be large enough to actually provide another Over bridge and upgrade the A40.”
The NPPF, the Government’s central rulebook for town planning and development decisions in England, has been changed to permit local plans to be as short as 10 years.
The annual housing target of 604 for the council set by the Government remains unchanged, allowing a new local plan to commit to as few as 8,000 houses.
Council leader Adrian Birch (G, Tidenham) said the authority’s focus is now on developing a plan for the district which reflects the changes to national planning policy.
“The national standard method for calculating housing need remains unchanged and will continue to be used in preparing the new local plan,” he said.
“However, updated national planning policy allows for a shorter plan period of at least 10 years from adoption, meaning the overall housing requirement will be influenced by the length of the plan.
“As work progresses, key considerations will include identifying the most appropriate plan period and securing the infrastructure needed across the district to support additional housing.
“Forest of Dean District Council is committed to ensuring that local communities, businesses, town and parish councils, and other stakeholders have opportunities to help shape the new local plan.
Further information on the plan-making process and future engagement opportunities will be published in due course.”