‘Gridlock’ fears over plans for thousands of homes at new town near Gloucester
Serious concerns are being raised that building thousands of new homes near Gloucester will worsen the rush hour traffic “gridlock” on the A40.
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There are serious concerns that building thousands of new homes near Gloucester will worsen the rush hour traffic “gridlock” on the A40.
District planners in the Forest of Dean are proposing the creation of two new settlements to help meet their 12,000-home housing target.
Councillors approved consulting the public on their blueprint at their meeting last week.
And the local plan will set out where new developments should take place in their area until 2045.
However, villagers are concerned over the lack of infrastructure available to cope with the extra homes.
One of the new towns could be at Churcham with 2,000 homes.
There is also a concern about the potential for more than 2,500 homes at nearby Highnam to be included in the upcoming strategic local plan for Tewkesbury, Gloucester and Cheltenham.
Councillor John Francis (I, Longhope and Huntley) was among those who raised concerns at the meeting on January 22.
Traffic from the A48 and B4215 converge with the A40 at Highnam which then goes on to meet traffic from the A417 at Over.
“We all know it is going to be gridlock,” he said after the meeting.
“Without the extra housing, the A40 is already a choke point.
“There will be more people coming in from outside who have jobs elsewhere.
“The majority of journeys, because there isn’t much employment in the Forest, are outside of the Forest.
“Extra housing is going to increase the drive time for anybody. It is going to be chaos.”
Forest of Dean District Council leader Adrian Birch (G, Tidenham) said the council’s plan is not desirable but is the “least worst option” in trying to meet the government-imposed housing target.
“It’s not what we would want to do, if we were given a more realistic figure of houses to work to,” he said.
“We are having to accept that that’s the choice we have to make. We have to shoulder this burden.
“It’s clearly not a desirable solution for us.
“We don’t want to build on greenfield sites but we have no choice.
“If we cannot produce a plan. That process would be taken out of our hands and the plan will be prepared by the planning inspectorate who will then have a free rein where they put the development.
“This is the least worst option that we have.”
The consultation on the Forest of Dean’s local plan begins next month.
By Carmelo Garcia, local democracy reporter for Gloucestershire. carmelo.garcia@reachplc.com