A Valentine’s Day ‘tiff’, £20m and a major development now at risk
Public finger-pointing - a result of the pressure to deliver a major Gloucestershire redevelopment - has highlighted how the project could miss out £20 million of vital funding and fall flat.
Dear reader,
We hope you had a great weekend.
We also hope you enjoyed last week’s stories, especially the one that announced our first birthday and rising readership for our thrice-weekly email editions.
In among the detail was news that The Raikes Journal is now approved by the BBC to use the stories of its local government reporting service. We’ve done that today with two tales published in full on our website, but linked below.
Today we take a look at the story some rushed to publish last week about a Gloucestershire housing developer pointing the finger at a county local authority, suggesting it would be its fault if it missed a deadline for a vital £20 million of funding to make its development happen.
Something didn’t sit right with us here, so we decided to do what Raikes does, and try and understand it a little better so you are better informed. At least that’s what we tried to do.
You can make your own minds up if we managed it!
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Have a great week.
Andrew Merrell (editor).
If you have a story, an issue, a news item, a charity or an interview you want us to write about or investigate, challenge the powers that be on, then please email me: andrew.merrell@raikesjournal.co.uk.
NB: We believe Raikes now publishes probably the best-read business-related email ‘newsletter’, pound for pound, in Gloucestershire. Readership is growing and 2025 looks good!
Your briefing notes…
👩💼 The chief executive of North Somerset County Council, Jo Walker, is due to become the new ceo of Gloucestershire County Council. Walker, who has been in her current position for six years, began her career at the Gloucestershire local authority. She will replace current county council ceo Pete Bungard, who announced in November he would be retiring in May after 20 years in the role. The first major task in her inbox is helping steer Gloucestershire's devolution journey.
📅🖥️ This is your chance to get involved in one of CyNam’s industry-focused events. The influential Cheltenham-based cyber-focused networking group is looking for speakers, exhibitors and startups to take part in what it calls its Future 10 event, due to take place at Pittville Pump Rooms, Cheltenham, on 3 April from 6pm. Speakers will need to be willing and able to share insights, research and expertise on the challenges facing cyber and emerging tech, exhibitors to showcase innovative solutions, products or services and startups to pitch groundbreaking ideas to potential investors.
🤝 Gloucestershire College is due to stage a special apprenticeship open evening later this month aimed at both employers and wannabe apprentices. The college is due to open the doors of its Gloucester campus on Wednesday 26 February from 5pm to 8pm (Llanthony Road, Gloucester , GL2 5JQ). Turn up and you’ll meet more than 40 businesses from six ‘industry zones’ and be able to ask questions about apprenticeship vacancies and hear about apprenticeships from the college’s award-winning team - and from current and past apprentices about their experiences. Find out more on Eventbrite.
Traffic fears over rugby club’s expansion bid
A Gloucestershire rugby club that wants permission to expand its facilities by building a sports hall on its ground has attracted concerns over road safety and the development’s appearance. Cheltenham Tigers Rugby Club has submitted plans to Tewkesbury Borough Council to develop its Newlands Park ground in Southam Lane, Southam. The club wants to build extensions to its existing clubhouse, including a new sports hall - primarily to support the development of a wheelchair rugby team. It also wants a first-floor extension as additional studio space and a new permanent stand to the main football and rugby pitch. While it broadly supports the club’s plans, its proposals have sparked concerns from Southam Parish Council about appearance and the impact it will have on the nearby busy junction with the A435. Read the full story here.
Fears for Cheltenham town centre businesses over impact of car park closure
There are fears the imminent closure of a Cheltenham town centre car park will make parking problems worse in the spa town and impact business. North Place Car Park is due to close on February 21, with the site earmarked for 147 homes and planning permission for the development approved by Cheltenham Borough Council last August. Keith Graham, who owns The Famous on the Prom, said there are generally a lot of issues with parking in the town, and while he is in favour of the housing he argues the car park’s closure will “cause a parking issue in Cheltenham”. Borough Councillor Stan Smith (PAB, Prestbury) agreed. He said the situation for parking is going to become very difficult in Cheltenham after the car park closes. To read the full story click here. (Credit to Carmelo Garcia, local government reporter for this story).
Law firm opens new offices
Gloucestershire watchers will have spotted this one already, but we wanted to acknowledge the event, the significance and also say ‘thank you’ for inviting The Raikes Journal along to help celebrate. We are talking about the official opening of WSP Solicitors’ new offices at Elmbridge East Business Park, Innsworth, where the Golden Valley out of Cheltenham meets Longlevens. Staff, clients, its new neighbours and long-standing partners were all in attendance as partner Amy Leivers delivered a potted history of the long-standing Gloucestershire firm’s journey to date and its plans for the future. Her speech was followed by commercial director, former managing partner and long-standing member of the WSP team, Peter Mardon, who also underlined what a good place he felt the firm was in to even better serve its clients.
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A Valentine’s Day ‘tiff’, £20m and a major development now at risk
Public finger-pointing - a result of the pressure to deliver a major Gloucestershire redevelopment - has highlighted how the project could miss out £20 million of vital funding and fall flat.
By Andrew Merrell.
Tensions have come to the surface between developers behind a major housing development for Gloucester and the city council, with the former warning that a vital £20m funding pot now appears to be slipping out of reach.
If ever it was to publicly fall out of love with the city council Valentine’s Day was as good a day to pick as any, with Gloucester City Homes issuing a press release that whichever way you read it left you in little doubt – the relationship was going through a tricky patch.
A press release issued by the city’s biggest by far social housing provider, a landlord to thousands, said despite an open and honest relationship with the council in which it had done everything within its power to deliver a scheme to redevelop Podsmead, it felt let down.
What it framed as eleventh-hour questions by the local authority’s planning department meant that gaining planning permission in time to meet a vial deadline to access £20 million from Homes England, the government's housing and regeneration agency, was now unlikely.
If ever approved its plans would aim to “create a new sense of neighbourhood”, and include a multi-use sports and play area, a BMX pump track, more trees and other planting, 173 high-quality affordable homes including four new apartment blocks and 80 houses and energy efficiency improvements for the area.
Everyone got on board and ran the release, with even the MP for the city, Alex McIntyre, going on the radio to have his say too.
But is that picture what is really happening here? Is GCH a victim of an overstretched planning departments, inflexible deadlines, impossible bureaucracy, a blame game or are we the targets of clever PR?
Shouldn’t we ask a few more questions before we go jumping to conclusions and posting press releases as if they are news?
So we did.
As you would expect, there is another side to the story – one in stark opposition to the suggestion that all the blame lies outside of GCH.
Getting anyone on the record about it is practically impossible. Off the record is another thing.
The local authority believes it has been doing everything it can to help GCH get to where it needs to be, and while it has sympathy for the housing association not being able to go to planning yet – it cannot understand the stance taken in its press release or the clear insinuation that blame lies at its door.
In a statement sent to The Raikes Journal the local authority said it was not the city council that told GCH the planning application would not be accepted for the targeted meeting for it to be considered in March.
“Gloucester City Homes own planning advisors are the ones that stated that they don’t believe they can make the planning committee of March 4 due to the fact they have not managed to resolve issues raised,” said the statement.
But does blame real lie only on one side? Is any blame due at all? Is this just what modern planning has become? Why make any issues public to start with and put everyone through articles like this? To save face? Is it just a sign of the amount of pressure on the senior figures at housing associations?
Should we care?
It matters because GCH currently supports an estimated 12,500 customers in the city and manages an estimated 5,000 homes and there is a housing crisis.
It is also a development partner of the county’s Joint Core Strategy Partnership (JCS) which aims to build over 30,000 new homes within the boundaries of Gloucester, Cheltenham and Tewkesbury by 2031.
Frustration with the planning system is no secret, of course.
The UK Government said shortly after it gained power last year that it would carry out reform, with the debate highlighting how woefully under-resourced planning departments are.
Yet these are the same departments expected to cope with an extra 1.5 million homes planned for Labour’s first term in office.
In trying to fix things, it seems the Government has not always having the desired impact either.
The Chancellor did tip an extra £500 million into the Affordable Homes Programme as a statement of how serious Labour is to reach the aforementioned ambitious housebuilding targets.
The difficult is that housing providers can only access the extra grant money if their schemes are completed by 2026. This might be the very deadline GCH is talking about (we were unable to clarify).
So, what has apparently happened is that while the funding is welcome, the deadline instead “threatens the delivery of new affordable housing”.
Ryan Mitchell, managing director of Greenstone Property Developments, told Inside Housing: “The grant funding is tied to the present 2021-26 AHP, with the practical result that new build housing is now stalling at a time when 1.5 million homes are promised.
“Government has not thought this through, as the present programme requires all projects to be completed by March 2026, with only limited extensions offered to October 2026.
“The result of this means that medium to large-scale new build site starts are simply not possible. Construction timelines don’t fit the restrictive 15-month window to access grant funding for new build delivery.”
Gloucester City Homes’ statement on the development scheme in question read like this: “In 2017 Gloucester City Council made a joint commitment to work with us, the County Council and the city’s MP to bring positive change to Matson and Podsmead by co-ordinating resources, land, planning and community consultation.
“We have engaged extensively with GCC on the plans, including contributing to the costs of a planning officer to work within the Council’s planning team. We are confident the plans submitted for the regeneration of Podsmead are both robust and reflective of the wishes of the Podsmead community.
“Our planning application was submitted in June 2024, and we have continued to respond promptly to all requests for additional information to aid the Council’s scrutiny of the plans.
“Following the most recent round of consultation ending at Christmas, 12 queries where shared with GCH during January which we have responded to in full and ahead of the deadline for the March Planning Committee.
“We hoped this would allow us to be on site before 31 March, a requirement to guarantee access to the £20 million Homes England funding.”
GCH said it was then asked a number of extra questions by the local authority around identifying and funding improvements to open spaces, a request from highways to reconsider its original decision related to the projects, and a request to revise drainage plans for the site.
“As a result, planners have advised us that our application will not be presented at the March planning committee meeting.
“Moreover, the additional financial requirements could affect the overall viability of the scheme, leaving the future of the redevelopment uncertain.”
Whatever is going on, as we have said above, it’s a new low in a working relationship that’s crucial to both Gloucester City Homes and the city council to achieve its commitments.
But it does indeed look like both sides have not entirely given up. A reconciliation is still possible.
Raikes understands the city council planners are doing everything they can to get the application ready – some of it is actually in the hands of independent advisors as is best practice.
And GCH is keen to be seen to be doing all it can to keep the dream alive. It even says as much in its initial statement.
“We are working as hard as we can to compile the necessary information and address all the council’s new requests.
“We are also reviewing funding options hoping to ensure the scheme remains viable and deliverable.
“While we remain committed to delivering a project that will benefit the entire community, these challenges highlight the complexities involved in ensuring a successful regeneration.”
It is all a stark contrast to the charm offensive that recently bore fruit down the other end of the Golden Valley.
A simple but effective media campaign by multi-millionaire businessman Julian Dunkerton helped to help secure 2,000 public votes in favour of his plans for a new seating area at the front of his No 131 Promenade bar and restaurant which helped swing the final decision in his favour.
Despite officers advising against the plans and the town’s civic society also against them, councillors hands were well and truly behind their backs by the time the final vote went down.
Perhaps the waters were muddied between GCH and the city council last year when another high profile scheme the housing association was working closely in full view of the city council also failed to make it through planning.
Its plans to demolish the crumbling Kingsholm tower block Clapham Court and replace it with a new housing scheme – was refused in December.
Whatever it was that led to the press release/missive that soured Valentine’s Day for both parties, let’s hope they can resolve their differences. This marriage really is ‘until death do us part’, whether they like it or not.