Liberal Democrats to oppose Tory plans to build on green fields around Gloucester and Cheltenham (Cheltenham Liberal Democrats)

Cheltenham Liberal Democrats <info@cheltlibdems.org.uk>

Liberal Democrats to oppose Tory plans to build on green fields around Gloucester and Cheltenham

November 14, 2007 4:15 PM

Ordinary Liberal Democrat party members, local district & county councillors and Cheltenham MP Martin Horwood gathered at Shire Hall on Saturday, to debate matters effecting the life of the county.

The key issue that united Liberal Democrats from all over Gloucestershire was a determination to challenge the Tory councils' decision to commit to building on the green fields around Cheltenham and Gloucester.

Last week the Cheltenham, Gloucester and Tewkesbury councils along with Gloucestershire County Council announced that they had been working with a developer consortium to plan the building of at least 6000 houses on green fields to the North of Gloucester and North-West of Cheltenham. The Conservative leaders submitted an application to Government on 31st October to turn the two developments into "growth points". This commits the councils to accelerate the building of housing on green fields including a new transport infrastructure.

Cllr Jeremy Hilton, Liberal Democrat leader in Gloucestershire said: "Liberal Democrats are angry about the Tory u-turn and their failure to stand up for Gloucestershire. We are determined to protect the green fields around Cheltenham and Gloucester. The four councils have just approved a developers' charter that makes easy profits for the developers and ignores the wishes of local people who want to keep Gloucester and Cheltenham separate and protect our green fields. The Tory run councils in Gloucester and Cheltenham are ignoring the warnings that planning experts have given about the threat these out-of-town developments pose to the urban regeneration of Gloucester and developments to Cheltenham town centre. The Tories have made a critical mistake by committing to a fast-track building programme on our green fields when there is much work to be done on brownfield sites in both Gloucester and Cheltenham."

The Tory leaders of the four councils signed up to the application for "growth point" status. The Government "growth point" scheme is designed to identify housing developments that local councils want to accelerate. The Government will then provide limited funding to help the councils plan the development and encourage councils to work with private developers to accelerate their plans.

Cllr John Cordwell, Liberal Democrat spokesperson for Transport and Planning, said: "The Tories are using smoke and mirrors to try and claim their bid document does not commit them to a massive building programme. The Conservatives are now committed to building an urban extension to Gloucester right next to the flood plain and on the green fields around Cheltenham. The councils have hidden the extent of the transport infrastructure building programme that is necessary to support these developments. The Cheltenham North-west distributor road is only one of several major road-building schemes that will cover our green fields in concrete and inevitably lead to even more housing that will create an urban sprawl in the Severn Vale."