Summary
Tranquility of King Charles’ Cotswold home could be at risk amid greenfield housing plan There are fears much-loved fields yards from Highgrove House could be ‘concreted over’ Plans to develop fields near Tetbury could disrupt the tranquility of King Charles’ Cotswold residence at Highgrove House. Corporate development giant Miller Homes is planning to build the new housing estate on fields between Bath Road and Longfurlong Lane on the outskirts of Tetbury . But residents fear the proposals will threaten the wildflower meadows which lie within yards of the country residence of King Charles III and Queen Camilla.. The privately-owned fields are a priority conservation habitat within the Cotswold National Landscape and an important heritage setting on the southern approach to the historic town of Tetbury, residents say. “This is an entirely cynical move by Miller Homes,” says Peter Martin, a former district councillor and chairman of residents’ group the Longfurlong Greenfields Association (LGA). “This land has always been excluded from development in the Local Plan and is not part of any future plan for housing in Tetbury,” “Miller Homes knows full well that this site is outside the development boundary, too far away from all the town’s amenities and contravenes dozens of legitimate planning policies designed to protect us against inappropriate development. Surveyors have been spotted in the fields near Tetbury. Residents understand plans for a new housing estate of up to 135 homes could soon be submitted for the site. “Yet they have been sending in teams of surveyors for months to assess traffic, wildlife, trees, landscape and even archaeology, and have been meeting with local councillors.” Laura Hall-Wilson, who represents Tetbury with Upton as a Conservative councillor at Cotswold District Council, said the plans would “concrete over” an important part of the countryside. “The proposed development between Bath Road and Longfurlong Lane is merely taking advantage of arbitrary increases in Government housing targets, yet another show of complete disregard for rural areas,” she said. “This ‘bolt on’ style development is not well positioned in the town where other areas have been identified through the local plan. It would concrete over an important piece of countryside with good footpaths, well loved by walkers. Tetbury with Upton District Councillor Laura Hall-Wilson said the plans would “concrete over” an important part of the countryside “Additionally, Miller Homes need to finish what they started with the Highfields development before even considering building elsewhere.” She said she is looking forward to working with the Longfurlong Greenfields Association in the coming weeks to strongly oppose Miller Homes’ plans for Tetbury. Mr Martin also criticised the Labour Government’s plans to build 1.5m new homes in the current Parliament. He believes it is “driving developers to seek land that they know would never normally be granted consent”. “We have severe parking problems, unacceptably long waiting times to see a doctor and our sewage treatment works is discharging raw sewage up to 33 per cent of the time into a tiny brook where all the marine life has now died.” New analysis by the think tank the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) finds that developers have already secured planning permission for over 1.4 million homes since 2007 but have not gone on to build them. Common reasons for this include developers wanting to increase the land’s value before selling it on and land banking to slow building rates and maintain high house prices. The fields are within yards of Highgrove the private residence of King Charles III and Queen Camilla IPPR is suggesting new laws to force developers to build within a certain time frame of securing planning permission, or face sanctions. Dr Maya Singer Hobbs, senior research fellow at IPPR, said: “The Government doesn’t need to rip up the planning system to build 1.5 million new homes. “Many of the blockers to housing and infrastructure delivery are not planning related. Reasons include water shortages, private developers slowing delivery to maintain profits, and a lack of strategic oversight of large infrastructure projects. “Market driven house-building is broken, and won’t deliver the 1.5 million homes the government has promised.”…