Do you live in Tewkesbury? Have your say on future development

Tewkesbury Borough Council are currently consulting on their draft plan (TBP), which will allocate sites for housing and employment development, as well as providing planning policies to guide future development in the borough.

The consultation runs until 30^th November 2018 and invites feedback from all relevant parties on the preferred options plan, which seeks to further refine site allocation and policy options to help promote sustainable development within the borough.

Key development constraints and sustainable development areas for Tewkesbury

Plainview Planning’s GIS team have undertaken spatial analysis on the borough and identified key development constraints and sustainable development areas, which is shown in the map above. The areas outlined in red represent development opportunities, orange areas have one or more development constraints.

• If you own land in the red areas then your site could potentially be suitable for allocation;
• If the Council are suggesting land be built in orange areas then these are potentially not sustainable.

Does this draft local plan consultation really matter to me?

Yes! Your individual comments will really make a difference. This plan is going to control your borough until 2031 – make sure your interests are protected.

• If you are a landowner you may want to push your site forward as an alternative development option;
• If you are a parish you will want to provide important local insight into the borough wide policies;
• If you are a resident you will want to ensure your views on future growth are heard. You may be a young family struggling to make it on to the housing ladder or an owner of a listed building worried about the potential impact on your dwelling.

What should I do?

You have until 5pm on Friday 30^th November to submit a representation. It is very easy to do. Just visit the online questionnaire here.

This represents a crucial moment, not only to make your views heard on housing and employment development in the area, but to also put forward your own site if you have land which you think may be better suited to residential development.

If you are not sure how best to prepare a representation then contact the team at Plainview Planning to see how we can help.

How Plainview Planning can help landowners and developers

We can help you to make considered and strategic representations to help influence local plan evolution. The key to ensuring your views make an impact is through the preparation of scrupulously considered and well-presented strategic representations, something which the team at Plainview Planning specialise in.

Furthermore, as a planning consultancy local to Tewkesbury, we have been keeping a close eye on developments in the area and are well positioned to actively promote your site for inclusion in the upcoming draft plan.

If you would like an assessment of your chances of securing planning permission or local plan allocation we recommend that you send us your site details via our new Landmark service. Submission via this form is completely confidential. Once you submit we will give you a call to chat through potential options to see how we can best help and provide you with a fee quote for our services.

You can learn more about how Plainview Planning can help you in making Local Plan representations here.

And you can read more about the Tewkesbury Borough Plan – Preferred Options Consultation here.

What does the current draft policy say:

Relevant responses are being sought on a broad range of proposals, including: 

Sites for housing in Tewkesbury: At present an indicative minimum requirement of 2740 homes has been identified, which will be spread across 2 rural service centres at Bishop’s Cleeve and Winchcombe, and 12 service villages including; Alderton, Coombe Hill, Gotherington, Highnam, Maisemore, Minsterworth, Norton, Shurdington, Stoke Orchard, Toddington, Twyning, Woodmancote.

Whilst there is no specific number of new homes requirement allocated to Tewkesbury town, it will be expected to play a part in line with its role as the primary settlement in the borough.

Views are being sought on the proposed figures and the next stage will be to undertake an assessment of potential sites around the settlements to consider which may be suitable for meeting growth.

Proposed housing site allocations: The consultation also seeks views on proposed sites for allocation for residential development in Tewkesbury town, the 2 rural service centres and 7 of the 12 service villages.

Each proposed plot comes with site-specific policies setting out key issues that the development of the land would need to address. Furthermore, at this stage all site capacities are an approximate only and no detailed design proposals have been submitted.

Revised planning policies: The proposed revisions to local planning policy include housing allocations (RES1); settlement boundaries (RES2); development outside settlement boundaries (RES3); flexibility for smaller developments in rural areas (RES4); along with housing mix review and self and custom build provision.

The proposed planning policies also explore the removal of green belt land to accommodate housing and employment development.

RESOURCES: Tewkesbury Borough Plan – Preferred Options Consultation

IMAGE SOURCE: Plainview Planning 2018