Fears small village will be ruined by 1090-home plan
Government targets for housebuilding charging the Cotswolds with finding room for an extra 19,000 homes within the next 24 months continue to be met with resistance from residents.
There are fears plans to build almost 19,000 homes in the Cotswolds over the next two decades “will ruin” communities including a small village near Cirencester.
Cotswold District Council has been tasked by the Government to come up with a plan for housing development in the district.
And council leaders are in the process of considering a new local plan to meet this aim and provide a blueprint for housing, employment and leisure sites until 2043.
Planners are proposing the creation of ten strategic sites which will take 90 per cent of the new housing.
But residents in small villages such as Driffield, where 1,090 could be built, fear the local plan is “crazy” and will “ruin everything about the community”.
Liberal Democrat council leader Mike Evemy (Siddington and Cerney Rural) acknowledged the “anxiety and concern” caused by the draft local plan, at a cabinet meeting on August 6.
“I recognise that for some of our communities that may have been surprising what was in there,” Cllr Evemy said.
He explained the council is “facing a Government that has imposed a housing target” upon it.
“When the new government was elected two years ago they talked about building 1.5 million homes in five years. That’s 300,000 a year,” Cllr Evemy said.
“As a consequence of that the figure they expect to be delivered from the Cotswold district more than doubled to over 1,000 a year from less than 500.”
He said as a result the council’s policies are deemed out of date and there is a tilted balance in favour of development.
“Essentially that is speculative development aside from those developments that tare on our already allocated sites,” he added.
He went on to say that he has written to three different ministers and each of the three occasions they made clear they would not change the target.
“The Government has been steadfast and they have not budged on the target.”
Neil White, from Driffield Parish Council, was among several public speakers who spoke at the cabinet meeting and said the proposals are going to “ruin” the small village which currently has around 40 houses.
“People who have been there for years love it,” he said. “This is going to ruin it.
“It’s just crazy. It’s ruining a community and everything about it in every single sense.”
Cllr Evemy said he understands why people are anxious over the plan.
“There are communities like yours in other parts of the district as well that are feeling similarly anxious and very concerned,” he said.
“The emotions that you’ve expressed. I think we get it.”
Cllr White interjected to ask if he would take it into consideration.
“Members must consider everything and come to a considered view,” Cllr Evemy replied.
“That’s our job as councillors.
“We were elected to do a job and sometimes you get decisions like this that are difficult.”
By Carmelo Garcia, local democracy reporter for Gloucestershire. carmelo.garcia@reachplc.com
*The Raikes Journal is the only independent news outlet in Gloucestershire approved to use the copy of the BBC local government reporting service. Why? Only independent, credible journalistically-led platforms that meet the BBC’s high standards win that permission.